Uncertainties
by CSI4nsicAce
Summary: GSR - As Grissom and Sara plan for the future, Grissom is confronted by his past. - Sequel to Loved and Lost - COMPLETED
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own anything pertaining to CSI.  
Please do not repost this story anywhere without my permission.  
Thanks, enjoy._

_

* * *

_The 'morning after' Grissom and Sara's wedding so to speak, Grissom and Sara lay in bed, both of them too lethargic to move. "You evil man," Sara scolded, her voice clouded with sleep.

"I do believe you took an active part in the festivities," Grissom reminded, brushing a lock of hair behind her ear.

"You're still evil," Sara groaned and nestled further into his chest.

"Are you going to get up any time today?" Grissom asked.

"I wasn't planning on it."

Sara lay staring at her wedding ring, admiring its beauty and relishing in what it meant. "Gil, does it bother you that I'm not going to take your name?" Sara asked, still absent-mindedly staring at her ring.

"I respect your independence Sara. Your name, your choice. I wouldn't force you into something like that."

"Good, because you wouldn't be able to."

"Ah, that Sidle determination," Grissom joked, "in my heart you'll still be Mrs. Grissom."

"Technically, I am Mrs. Grissom. My name is Sara Sidle, but I am Mrs. Grissom since I am married to you," Sara elaborated.

"And you like to split hairs," Grissom joked.

"You love me for it," Sara stated, pulling his arms tighter around her.

"I wouldn't exactly put it that way," Grissom corrected, planting a kiss on top of her head, "I love your abilities."

"That is an ability," Sara continued.

Grissom turned Sara around in his arms and pressed a kiss to her lips. "No more talking Ms. Sidle," Grissom stated, "or is it Mrs. Grissom?"

"Are you suggesting that I have multiple personalities?" Sara feigned shock.

"No, I'm merely stating this conversation is absurd. I love you, I don't care if you change your name to a character if you want. You'll still be you, and you can't change that."

Sara laughed. "A rose by any other name..."

Grissom groaned. "As much as I would enjoy a literary battle with you, we are done with this conversation. Our proverbial honeymoon is for us, not for words."

"So what are you going to do to keep me entertained?" Sara asked innocently with a questioning look on her face.

Grissom ran his hands up her bare sides and placed a passionate kiss to her lips. "How about this?" he asked with a sly look on his face.

"That would be just fine Mr. Grissom," Sara stated, allowing him to roll her onto her back and continue administering kisses.

Their conversation ended, Grissom and Sara choosing to display their emotions with touches rather than words.

* * *

Grissom and Sara were very much enjoying each other when Sara heard a crack. She stopped moving and opened her eyes. "What the hell was that?" Sara panted, trying to catch her breath. 

"Old bones," he stated, kissing her, intent to continue.

"That sounded like it hurt," Sara stated, not fully responding to his movements, "what was that?"

"My knee, and it's not bothering me now," Grissom spoke, trailing a few kisses down her jaw line.

Sara accepted his answer, and they picked up where they left off.

* * *

After taking a short nap, Sara decided they should get up and eat something. It was nearing noon, and neither one of them had eaten something since the previous night. Sara groaned when she got up out of the bed, and she tried to stretch some of the kinks out of her body. "Evil," she spoke again. 

"Admit it, you liked it," Grissom played along.

"I did," Sara grinned, walking toward the bathroom.

Grissom swung his legs over the side of the bed and reached for a pair of boxers. He pulled them on and moved to stand up. "Oh," he grimaced, putting weight on his left leg.

Sara hadn't gotten into the shower yet, so she poked her head out of the bathroom door. "Griss, you alright?" she asked, his bare back facing her.

"I think I might have a slight problem," Grissom spoke, trying to take a step forward.

Grissom succeeded in moving a step, but his pain and limp were obvious. Sara grabbed her robe, cinched it around her waist, and walked to his side. "Your knee?" Sara asked, raising her eyebrows.

Grissom reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, just give me a minute, I can probably walk it off."

Sara took his arm and brought him back a step toward the bed. "Sit mister, you're not going anywhere," Sara stated, easing him back to the bed, "I asked you about this earlier, and you said you were fine."

"I was fine then."

"Or you had other things on your mind then."

"So did you," Grissom countered.

Sara looked down at his knee and saw that it was slightly swollen. "Does this hurt?" Sara asked, pressing lightly around it.

"Stop that," Grissom scoffed, trying to pull away from her.

"Lay back and get comfortable on the bed," Sara spoke, "I'm going to get an icepack."

"I don't need an icepack," Grissom protested.

"Well, to be able to walk on that, you're going to want to get the swelling down. Ice is going to help that. I know you're not going to want to explain how you ended up with said injury," Sara spoke, trying to disguise her grin.

Before Grissom could comment, Sara left the room in search of an icepack. _How did we manage this?_

* * *

Sara returned with an icepack, and she placed it on Grissom's knee. She then went to the bathroom, grabbed some aspirin and a cup of water, and brought it back to Grissom. He thankfully took the aspirin and swallowed it down with the water. 

"Gil, you've got to admit, this is quite funny," Sara spoke, sitting beside him on bed.

"Hilarious," Grissom sarcastically replied, "why don't you have a few laughs at my expense?"

Sara reached down and rubbed the back of his hand. "Is there anything else I can get you?"

"No, I think I'm just going to sit here for a little while. Why don't you go take your shower, and by the time you're done, I might be ready to attempt walking again."

Sara leaned over and stole a quick kiss. "I won't be long," she spoke before retreating to the bathroom.

Grissom adjusted the pillow under his knee and tried to get more comfortable. _My body definitely isn't what it used to be. I can't believe this, Sara's right, there is no way in hell I'm explaining this to anyone. It's embarrassing enough to look at Sara and see her trying to suppress her laughter. With anyone else, it would be a disaster._

* * *

When Sara emerged from the bathroom, Grissom was missing from the bedroom. -Well, he must be feeling better.- "Gil, where are you?" Sara called, exiting the bedroom. 

"Kitchen," he called back.

Sara walked out into the kitchen and found Grissom sitting in a chair, drinking a cup of coffee. He had put some sweatpants on and donned a t-shirt. "Why are you out here?" Sara asked.

"Because I was feeling better, and I thought I would make some coffee. There's some for you too," he gestured toward the pot.

Sara talked while she poured herself a cup of coffee. "How's the knee?"

"I think I might recover."

"That's good, because you did promise to entertain me."

Grissom looked up in slight desperation. "Sara, you're going to kill me," he started.

Sara gave him a soft smile and sat down next to him. "What a good way to go," Sara joked and smiled.

Sara pinched Grissom's thigh before he could protest. "Believe me Griss, I'm not ready for another round yet either. We should be more careful though, I don't want to break you."

"Sara, I am not a china doll, I think we'll manage just fine," Grissom said, a slight blush coloring his cheeks.

Sara kissed Grissom's cheek and got up from the table. "What do you want for lunch?" she asked, successfully dropping the subject.

"Whatever you want, I was going to make it for you."

"You stay put. I'm not really hungry, I'm just going to have a bean sprout sandwich," Sara said, leaning into the refrigerator, "do you want grilled cheese?"

"That's fine," Grissom replied.

Once Sara had both of their sandwiches made, she handed Grissom his and sat down across from him at the table. "This is good Sara," Grissom spoke after taking a bite.

"Thanks, I managed not to screw up grilled cheese," Sara joked.

Grissom smiled and continued to eat his sandwich. "How's yours?" he asked.

"Good. Do you want a bite?" Sara teased.

Grissom shook his head. "Sorry, I need more than rabbit food to survive."

Sara nudged Grissom's foot under the table and continued to eat her sandwich. When they finished, Sara carried their dishes to the sink. "Do you want to go watch a movie?" Sara asked, resting her hands on Grissom's shoulders.

"Sure," Grissom spoke.

Grissom braced himself against the table and carefully eased himself out of the chair. With Sara's arm around him, they walked slowly into the living room. Grissom sank into the couch and got comfortable, and Sara rested her body slightly in front of his. Grissom wrapped his arms around her, and they both settled in to watch the movie. "Are you comfortable enough?" Sara asked.

"With you in my arms I'll always be comfortable," Grissom said, kissing the top of her head.

"You've been pretty open these past two days," Sara noted, "not that I'm complaining. That's just different for you."

Grissom smiled. "I like to tell you how I feel about you, it's just that sometimes I have a hard time vocalizing my feelings. You've told me plenty of times that I'm not the most social person, and that is very true."

Sara held onto Grissom's hand and stroked the back of it. "Gil, we've talked about this before. I know you love me, you may not always say it in those words, but you show it all of the time."

"Well, I do love you very much," Grissom spoke, kissing her neck.

"That's a good thing considering we got married yesterday," Sara spoke, trying to lighten up their conversation.

Grissom emitted a small laugh and played along. "We did? Really?" he acted shocked.

Sara reached behind her to poke him in the stomach and then nestled in his arms again. "I love you too," Sara spoke, successfully ending their talk.

Both of them directed their attention back to the movie, enjoying the quiet time they could spend with each other.

* * *


	2. Chapter 2

Three days later, their honeymoon was over and Sara was sitting in the kitchen, dressed and ready to go to work. Grissom walked out to the kitchen a few minutes later. "How does it feel Gil?" Sara asked, watching him walk in. 

"Stiff," he answered, taking his coat from the back of the door, "I had to wrap it up."

"Aspirin?"

"Took it already, there's more in my office."

"You sure you don't want to see the doctor about it?"

"I'll be fine. It's a lot better than when it happened, by the end of the week I should be as good as new."

Sara nodded and stood up from her chair. "Are you ready to go?" Sara asked.

"Yes, let's get going."

Grissom let Sara pass in front of him, and they both headed out to the car.

* * *

Grissom had put himself with Warrick for the night, hoping he could evade any questions from the rest of the team, mainly Catherine. They had a homicide scene, and there was plenty of evidence that needed to be processed. "Griss, do you want to catalogue bullets or cast footprints?" Warrick asked after a walkthrough of the scene. 

Since the sprinklers had recently come on, there were many footprints left from the killers. Bullets had been fired all over the inside of the house, and there were plenty of casings and bullets to retrieve and catalogue. Neither job was conducive to Grissom's injured knee. "I'll take the bullets Warrick," Grissom replied, "you get started on the footprints."

The two separated, Grissom to stay in the house, and Warrick to go back outside and process the footprints.

* * *

By the end of shift, Grissom only had a few more bullets to catalogue. Although it was quite painful, Grissom was kneeling on the floor, for he found it to be the best position to pick up the casings. He had first tried bending at the waist, but his back had started to protest, so he decided to kneel, stick it out, and work through the pain. He had taken several breaks, but his body just wasn't cooperating. Just as he was finishing up, Warrick entered the room. "I just finished all of the prints outside," Warrick spoke. 

Grissom finished putting the last bullet into a bag and labeled the outside. "Okay, I just finished here. We can get out of here and bring all of the evidence back to the lab," Grissom stated, pulling all of the evidence together.

Grissom put his feet under him and tried to get up, but his knee protested. Warrick wasn't going to say anything until he saw Grissom struggle again. "Griss, you okay?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah, I've just been on this floor for a while."

Grissom pushed off of the floor and managed to stand upright. However, when he took a step, Grissom stumbled when his knee gave out. Warrick grabbed a hold of his upper arm and kept him from falling. When he was sure that Grissom stood upright, Warrick let go of his arm. Warrick knew better than to question Grissom about his knee again. "Do you want me to drive back to the lab?" Warrick asked.

"Yeah," Grissom stated, pulling the keys from his pocket, "just give me a minute, I'll be out."

Warrick turned and left the house. Grissom grabbed the evidence and his field kit and slowly started to walk out of the house. His knee was protesting fiercely, for it felt like it was on fire, but Grissom made it out to the vehicle without incident. He pulled himself into the seat, and silence filled the vehicle during the drive back to the lab. _I yell at Sara for pushing it too hard, and here I am barely able to walk. Sure, it's not exactly the same thing, but she's going to think it is._

* * *

Sara was waiting in Grissom's office when he got back to the lab. Thankfully the rest of the team had already left, and no one really noticed him limping down the hallway. Sara frowned when she saw Grissom struggle to walk into his office. "What happened?" Sara asked, concerned. 

"Lots and lots of bullets," Grissom replied.

"Sit," Sara gestured to the couch.

"If I sit down I'm not going to get up. Let's just get out of here."

Sara stood up and put her hand across Grissom's lower back. "Are you going to make it out to the car?"

"Yeah, I can manage."

Sara dropped her hand, and the two of them walked out to the car. Sara got into the drivers seat and started their drive home. Sara attempted conversation, but Grissom wasn't very receptive, so they traveled home in silence.

* * *

"Sara, I'm going to go to bed," Grissom spoke, laying his jacket across the back of a chair and walking toward the bedroom. 

"I'll go get you some ice," Sara stated, going into the kitchen.

When Sara entered the bedroom with an icepack, Grissom was laying in bed with his eyes closed. He had stripped down to his t-shirt and boxers, his head lay on one pillow, and he held an arm across his eyes. Although it was dark inside of the room, Sara didn't dare turn the light on, for she didn't want to make a headache worse if he was starting to get one. She walked over to his side and pulled the covers back so she could see his knee. He had unwrapped it before getting into bed, and from the light peeking through the door, Sara could see the slight swelling present. She carefully placed the icepack around his knee and pulled the covers back over him. "Do you need aspirin?" Sara asked, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"No, I took some about two hours ago," Grissom spoke, not moving, "thank you."

"I'm going to go sit in the living room for a little while," Sara spoke, rubbing his shoulder, "call me if you need anything."

Grissom stayed silent, so Sara left the room to go back out into the living room.

* * *

When Grissom woke up later that afternoon, he realized that the bed was still made next to him, and Sara had never joined him. Grissom tentatively tried to bend his left knee, and he was pleased when only a slight twinge of pain greeted him. He got out of bed and went to shower before going to find Sara. 

After getting out of the shower and toweling off, Grissom pulled on boxers and a long-sleeved shirt. He carefully rewrapped his knee and put on a pair of sweatpants. He picked up the warm icepack off of the dresser where he had set it earlier and walked out into the living room.

Sara was laying on the couch, one arm dangling over the side. The forensic book that she had been reading was laying on the floor, and her other arm was resting behind her head. Although she did not look comfortable at all, she was sleeping. Grissom decided to take the icepack out to the kitchen and make some coffee before returning to Sara.

Grissom walked back into the living room after putting the icepack in the refrigerator and turning the coffee pot on. He admired Sara's sleeping form for a minute before running his fingers through her hair. She slightly stirred and her eyes drifted open. "You forget to come to bed?" Grissom asked, caressing her cheek.

"What time is it?" Sara asked, still staying in the position she was in on the couch.

"Four o'clock."

Sara brought her other arm behind her head and closed her eyes once again. "How's your knee?"

"It feels a lot better. Resting helped."

"Good, maybe you can manage to stay off of the floor tonight," Sara spoke, her voice clouded with sleep.

"I know, I was pushing too hard," Grissom stated, realizing she was nagging on him a little bit.

"That's what got you into this mess to begin with," Sara joked.

"Hey," Grissom feigned hurt as a slight blush crept up his cheeks.

Sara smiled and yawned. "I'm exhausted."

"Do you want to go lay down for a while longer?" Grissom asked, "If you're pretty tired, you'd probably be more comfortable in bed."

"Yeah, I'd be more comfortable out of these clothes too," Sara mumbled, slowly sitting up on the couch.

Sara stood up and put her hand on Grissom's chest. "I'm going to lay down, I'll be out in a little while," Sara stated.

Grissom took her hand in his. "Okay, I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I'm going to start off with coffee," Grissom replied.

Sara nodded and retreated to the bedroom. Grissom walked back out into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee. He decided to sit on the couch and drink his coffee before deciding what else to do.

After Grissom finished his coffee, he picked up his latest forensics journal and walked into the bedroom. He was careful to be quiet, for Sara had fallen asleep, and he eased himself onto the bed. He turned on the dim light on the side table and put his glasses on. Grissom checked to make sure that Sara was still sleeping and started to read the journal. _At least she's not angry._

* * *

Two hours later, Sara woke up and stretched her arms out in front of her. Grissom closed the journal and set it on the side table along with his glasses. When Sara started tilting her head from side to side to crack her neck, Grissom rested a hand on her shoulder. "You're stiff from sleeping on that couch, aren't you?" Grissom stated. 

Sara turned over in the bed and looked him in the eye. "Yeah, it's not the most comfortable thing in the world for sleeping," Sara replied, "what are you doing on top of the covers?"

"I wanted to let you sleep, and I was comfortable. I was reading."

Sara nodded and turned onto her stomach. She put her arms above her head and rested her head on her hands. Grissom took advantage of her position and slightly shifted so he would be comfortable, but able to massage her back. Grissom started his massage at her shoulders, and Sara groaned as she felt him attack her tension. "That feels good," Sara spoke.

"Good," Grissom replied, "there is no way you can be that tight and comfortable."

They continued a light conversation while he worked the tension out of her body, but Grissom stopped after she had been quiet for a few minutes. "You're not falling asleep on me, are you?" he asked.

"What?" Sara mumbled, making it obvious that she had drifted off.

"You're really this tired?" Grissom questioned, fascinated that she was falling asleep again, "What did you do during shift?"

"My job," Sara stated, not going into any details, "it was nothing much, we just did processing."

Grissom turned Sara over so she was laying on her back. "Then why are you so tired?" Grissom asked, looking into her eyes.

"I don't know Griss," she groaned, "I guess I just have to get up and start doing something. Then maybe I'll have some energy."

"I can go make you some fresh coffee," Grissom suggested.

"Okay," Sara spoke, "I'm going to go hop in the shower. Maybe that'll wake me up."

Grissom and Sara vacated the bed, going to do their separate tasks.

* * *

When Grissom walked into the break room to give out assignments, Warrick, Greg, and Catherine were the only ones present. Warrick watched Grissom carefully as he walked in. _Good, he seems to be fine today. I guess we don't realize that he's getting older, some things aren't as easy as they used to be._

"Where are Nick and Sara?" Grissom asked, puzzled as to why they weren't present.

"Well, Sara did come in with you, so she's got to be around here somewhere," Catherine stated, "and I saw Nick a few minutes ago."

Grissom glared at Catherine but did not speak. Nick and Sara entered the room a minute later. "Sorry Griss," Nick stated, taking a seat.

Grissom looked at Sara for an explanation, but she was looking away from him. Grissom proceeded to hand out assignments, putting Sara with himself for the night. While driving to the scene, he questioned her and Nick's tardiness. "We were talking about Nick's case," Sara clarified.

"Any problems?"

"No, he just had a question. I answered it and then we went to the break room. We didn't realize we were late."

"Oh, okay. Just remember that it is important that we get to our assignments as soon as possible."

"Sorry Griss, I forgot about that," Sara said facetiously.

Grissom didn't respond, and the two stayed silent the rest of the drive to the scene. _Maybe he should have gotten some more sleep when I did._

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

Grissom sat in his office at the end of shift, looking over results from ballistics. He noticed Nick walking down the hallway, and he called out to him as he passed his office door. "Nick," Grissom called, causing Nick to stop in the hallway. 

Nick stuck his head in the doorway. "Yeah Griss?" he replied.

"Did you finish your case?"

"Yeah, just got my results back from trace. We've got enough to nail the guy."

Grissom took his glasses off and set them on his desk. "Come have a seat."

Nick entered Grissom's office and sat down in a chair across from his desk. "What can I do for you Griss?"

"Be on time for assignments."

"Oh," Nick stated, surprised he was objecting, "I was asking Sara some questions about the samples I had collected."

Grissom gave him a small smile. "That's what Sara told me when I gave her the same suggestion," Grissom stated, "just try to get into the break room on time."

"Sure Griss," Nick replied, "is there a reason this is a problem right now?"

"It's not, just don't turn it into a problem."

"Okay," Nick drawled, getting up to leave Grissom's office.

_I have no idea what that was about, but I hope everything is okay. That was just odd._

* * *

Nick traveled back to the break room where he had seen Sara sitting just minutes before. "Sar, did Griss talk to you tonight?" Nick asked. 

"No, he's my husband, and we just worked a scene together, but we never talked to each other," Sara deadpanned.

"Did he tell you not to be late to assignments again?"

"Yup."

"Didn't you think that that was a little odd? He doesn't usually say anything."

"We're not usually late either," Sara pointed out, "don't worry about it, he's just being Griss."

"Yeah, I guess so. Thanks for helping me with that case though, we just cracked it open."

"That's good," Sara replied.

"Alright, I'm out of here," Nick stated.

"See you later."

Nick turned and walked out of the break room, and Sara left to find Grissom.

* * *

Sara leaned against the doorframe of Grissom's office and watched him work. "Griss," she spoke, trying to get his attention. 

Grissom, deep in thought, kept looking through his papers. "Griss," Sara spoke again, a little louder this time.

Grissom dropped his papers on the desk and looked up. "What?"

Sara walked into his office and stood across from his desk. "Are you engrossed in that case?" Sara asked, picking up the top sheet of the papers he had dropped.

"I was just looking at the results from ballistics. You know, all of those casings and bullets that Warrick and I brought in yesterday?"

Sara nodded and set the paper back down on his desk. "You ready to go home?"

"It's that time already?" Grissom stated, looking at his watch.

"Yeah, you know, your wife likes it if you get home on time."

"Sara," Grissom groaned.

"You coming?"

Grissom put all of his papers away and followed Sara out the door.

* * *

Six weeks after their wedding, Grissom and Sara were sleeping in their bed when Grissom's beeper went off. Sara immediately woke up and groaned, but Grissom didn't stir. Sara patted Grissom's chest and tried to rouse him. "Griss, wake up," she spoke. 

"What?" Grissom mumbled.

Grissom heard the incessant beeping and realized that his beeper was sounding. He reached for the offensive device and brought it to his face. Instead of reaching for his glasses, he turned the device so Sara could see it. "What does this say?" Grissom asked.

"419 Brass," Sara replied.

Grissom got out of bed and picked up his phone to call Brass. "You need anything while I'm out?"

"No, I'm going back to sleep," Sara said, turning over.

"Okay, if I don't get back home, I'll see you at work later."

After calling Brass, Grissom hopped in the shower, threw some clothes on, and left for the scene.

* * *

When Sara's alarm went off signaling that it was time to get ready for work, she threw her hand at the clock and groaned. Making connection with the snooze button, Sara brought both of her arms around her stomach. _It can't possibly be time to get ready for work already. I feel horrible._

Sara swung her legs over the side of the bed and turned the alarm clock off. She trudged to the shower, hoping to put some life back into her body.

After emerging from the shower, Sara still didn't feel much better. She started some coffee in the coffeepot and laid down on the couch to wait for it to perk. _I hope everything went okay with Grissom's case. I wish he could have come home._

Five minutes later, Sara walked back out to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. She took a sip of her coffee and immediately regretted it. She set down her cup and rushed into the bathroom where she quickly lost the contents of her stomach. After a minute she began to feel better, so she got up, brushed her teeth, and headed back out into the living room. _Well, no coffee for me. I might as well just leave for work, at least I'll have something to do there. I can figure this out later._

Sara grabbed her jacket and walked out the door.

* * *

"You have a few too many?" Greg asked when he saw Sara with her head in her hands in the locker room. 

Sara looked up and glared at Greg when he sat next to her. "Thanks Greg, you're a big help," Sara's voice dripped with sarcasm.

"What's going on?"

"Griss got called in in the middle of the day. I'm tired," Sara explained.

"You're admitting that you're tired? Are you sick too?"

Sara slapped Greg's shoulder and got up from the bench. "We need to go get our assignments," Sara stated, effectively dismissing him.

Greg followed Sara out the door, and they both went to the break room.

* * *

"You okay Sara?" Nick asked when Sara entered the break room. 

"I'm fine, I just want to get to work," she spoke, sitting next to him.

Nick reached over and tried to put a hand on her forehead, but Sara slapped it away. "Leave me alone Nick, I'm not in the mood for this," Sara snipped.

Nick put his hands up in a surrendering motion. "Okay, okay, you don't have to get snarky with me."

Sara slightly shook her head and looked around the room. "Where's Cath?" she asked.

"She's right here," Catherine said, walking through the door, assignment slips in hand.

"Where's Griss?" Warrick asked before anyone else got a chance to.

"He got called in before to a 419. He has a lot of work to do with his bugs, he's still down at the scene. If any of you have problems at your scenes, report to me, I'm in charge for the night."

"But Griss is still working," Warrick stated.

"But he doesn't want to be interrupted. Unless there is an emergency, for all intents and purposes I'm in charge for tonight."

"Okay Cath," Greg stated, "you can step down off of your platform now."

Catherine shot Greg a glare and proceeded to hand out assignments. Sara ended up with Catherine for the night, and Catherine attempted to start a conversation on the way to the scene. "What time did Griss leave?" Catherine asked.

"I have no idea," Sara stated, "we were both sleeping when his beeper went off, he said goodbye, and I went back to sleep."

Catherine eyed her and didn't like how pale and exhausted she looked. "You look like you didn't get much sleep."

"I'm alright," Sara clarified, "just a little tired."

Catherine accepted her statement and continued the drive to the scene.

* * *

By the end of shift, Sara still hadn't heard from Grissom, so when she got back to the lab, she went straight to his office. Grissom saw Sara walk into the room, and he followed her form with his eyes. "How did your scene go?" Grissom asked. 

"Okay," Sara replied, sitting in a chair across from him, "Catherine brought the evidence to trace."

Grissom frowned when he realized how pale her face was. "Let's go home," Grissom stated, "we've both been here long enough."

"Alright, I'll meet you there," Sara stated, "I need to swing by the store first."

"Okay, be careful, I'll see you soon."

The two headed out to the parking lot, and Grissom led Sara to her car. Once he made sure she was safely inside, he walked to his car and started his drive home.

* * *

Once Sara returned home, she found Grissom laying down on the couch in the living room. "Give me a minute to go get changed Griss," Sara spoke, ruffling her hand through his hair as she passed. 

"Did you get what you needed?" Grissom asked.

"Yeah," Sara provided.

_That tells me a lot._ Grissom adjusted the pillow behind his head and waited for Sara to emerge from the bedroom.

* * *

Sara changed and walked into the bathroom. _Well, now's the time to get this all figured out. I'm pretty sure what it's going to say, but this will tell me for sure. Well, 95 percent sure._

* * *

Sara walked out into the living room and sat down on the couch when Grissom moved his legs. She slid over next to him and wrapped her arms around him. "Gil, we need to talk," Sara sighed.

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

Grissom wrapped an arm around Sara and ran a hand through her curls. "What's wrong honey?" he asked, moving his hand up and down her arm in a soothing motion.

_He understands, we both wanted this. I just need to tell him the facts, and he'll give feedback. _Grissom leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "I'm pregnant," Sara spoke, her voice unwavering.

Grissom kept his head on top of hers and did not speak for a minute. He then wrapped his arms tightly around her and kissed the top of her head again. "That didn't take very long," he stated.

Sara pulled away from him slightly, rather confused by his comment. "It only takes once Gil," Sara stated, "I thought this was what we wanted."

Grissom realized that he had said the wrong thing, and he immediately pulled her back into his arms again. "I would love for you to have my child, our child," Grissom corrected, "there aren't enough words to convey how pleased I am that you're pregnant."

Sara pulled away again, but this time to look into his eyes. "This is going to be difficult," Sara spoke, "neither one of us know much about raising children."

"Most things in life aren't easy," Grissom stated, grasping her upper arm.

Sara nodded. "I guess you're right."

"How far along do you think you are?"

Sara looked away and leaned against the back of the couch. "Five or six weeks."

Grissom thought about her statement for a minute, completely lost in thought. "Our wedding," Grissom stated.

"Probably, or the week thereafter," Sara replied.

Grissom pulled Sara back into his arms and hugged her fiercely. "I love you so much," he whispered into her hair.

"I love you too," Sara mumbled into his chest.

The two stayed like that for a while until Grissom failed to suppress a yawn. "You must be exhausted, let's get into bed," Sara stated, rising from the couch.

"Did you get any sleep after I left yesterday?" Grissom asked on their way to the bedroom.

"Some. I was still tired when I got up though."

Grissom and Sara got into bed, and Sara spooned into Grissom's chest. Grissom wrapped his arms around her and rested his hands on her flat stomach. He absentmindedly ran his fingers across her stomach in a continuous pattern. Sara brought her hands to his and halted his movements. "Gil," Sara spoke, her voice slightly distant.

"What is it honey?" Grissom asked.

Sara slowly let out the breath she had just drawn in. "I don't want to tell anyone," Sara stated, "at least not for a while."

"They're all trained investigators, I would be surprised if they didn't all know already."

"Considering the rate of first trimester miscarriages, I don't want to be spreading news all around the lab. I couldn't stand to see the faces all over again."

Grissom kissed the back of her neck and squeezed her hands. "I respect whatever decision you make. When you're ready to say something, tell me."

"It's not like I'm going to wait forever, when the risks are lower, we can say something."

"Mmmhmm," Grissom mumbled against her neck.

_We're both exhausted, we can discuss this later. _Their conversation ceased, both of them drifting off to sleep, their hands kept around their newfound future.

* * *

When Grissom woke up, Sara was laying next to him with her arms settled across her stomach. He rested a hand on top of hers and looked up at her. "How do you feel?" he asked.

"Eh," was Sara's only reply.

Grissom brought his hand up to her face and kissed her cheek. "Why don't you rest for a few minutes, and I'll go start the coffee?"

Sara groaned. "Don't even come near me with that, I did not have a good experience with it last night."

Grissom rubbed her stomach again and gave her a small smile. "What can I get you then?"

Sara put her hands behind her and sat up in bed. "Nothing right now. I'm going to go hop in the shower, I'll be out in a few minutes."

Grissom let her go, and he got up to go out to the kitchen.

* * *

When Sara walked out into the kitchen, Grissom had toast sitting on the table, and two glasses of orange juice were poured. Sara smiled and sat down across from him. "Thanks," she spoke, taking a sip of her orange juice.

"Anytime," Grissom smiled.

Sara took another sip of her orange juice and set it down on the table. "I'm going to call my doctor tomorrow and see if I can get an appointment set up."

"She's probably going to want you to wait a couple of weeks."

"I know, but I can at least set up the appointment."

The two drifted into a comfortable silence once again, both of them eating their light meal.

* * *

"You look better today," Catherine stated when Sara walked into the break room.

_I sure don't feel better. _"Thanks, I got some more sleep, no interruptions," Sara replied.

Catherine smiled and took a sip of her coffee. "No coffee again?" Catherine stated, pointing to the water bottle in her hand.

"I've been having some problems with my stomach again."

"Serious?" Catherine asked, concerned for her wellbeing.

"No, I'm just going to lay off of the coffee and stick to water for now."

Catherine nodded. _Well, I guess I'll try and get some more information out of her later. She probably still won't say much, but I might be able to confirm my suspicions._

The rest of the team filtered into the room, and Grissom arrived to hand out assignments. "We've only got two scenes right now, Cath, you and Sara can finish working on your case from yesterday," Grissom stated, "Nick, you and Warrick have a B&E, Greg, you're coming with me to a 419."

The team dispersed to go to their separate scenes.

* * *

On the way to their scene, Grissom and Greg got stuck in traffic. Grissom kept looking at his watch, and he eventually leaned his head on his hand against the door. "This is sure taking long enough, Brass is going to wonder where we are," Greg stated.

Grissom stayed silent and watched the traffic ahead of him. Greg rephrased his statement and spoke again. "Maybe we should give Brass a call and tell him we're held up," Greg suggested.

Grissom continued to stare out the window. _Wow, this is odd. What is going on with him? _"Grissom?" Greg spoke, touching his shoulder.

Grissom was startled, and he turned toward Greg. "What?" he asked, sounding annoyed.

"Do you want me to call Brass and tell him we're stuck in traffic?" Greg asked.

Grissom slowly exhaled and nodded. "Okay Greg," Grissom stated.

Grissom turned back to watch the traffic in front of him, and Greg pulled out his cell phone. After taking another cautious glance at Grissom, Greg speed dialed Brass and told him that they would be late.

* * *

About halfway through shift, Catherine tried to find Sara to see if she wanted to go get some food. She eventually found her laying down on the couch in Grissom's office. Sara heard Catherine walk into the room, and she turned her head toward her. Catherine grabbed a chair and sat across from her. "Are you okay?" Catherine asked.

"Just a little woozy," Sara replied, "I thought I'd lay down for a minute."

"When did you find out?"

"Find out what?"

"That you're pregnant."

Sara put her hand over her eyes and groaned. "Gil said you'd figure it out, I just didn't think it would be this quick," Sara sighed.

"Look who you're talking to," Catherine spoke, "that plus the fact that you're off of coffee again, you've looked pretty out of it, and six weeks sounded like long enough to me."

Sara groaned. _How does she come up with these things? She's getting into a little too much information. _"Catherine, you don't need to keep tabs on my love life, we're doing fine on our own," Sara stated.

"Yeah, you sure are if you've got a baby on the way," Catherine smiled.

"I should have known you'd act like this," Sara recollected her thoughts, "you want to keep this quiet."

"Well, not really."

"It wasn't a question," Sara said sharply.

"Gil knows?"

"Yeah, I told him yesterday."

Catherine nodded. "Congratulations."

"Thanks," Sara said, sitting up, "just don't say anything about it, we don't want to tell anyone yet."

"Well, if I figured it out, everyone else is going to figure it out."

"I want to wait longer before we say anything."

Catherine understood what she was saying and dropped the subject. "Do you want to go get some food?" Catherine asked.

"Yeah, my stomach feels pretty good right now, I might as well take advantage of the opportunity."

"Alright, let's go, I'm driving."

Sara shook her head and followed Catherine out of Grissom's office.

* * *

When Grissom and Sara arrived home that evening, the first thing Sara did was get on the phone. After talking to the receptionist, she set up a doctor's appointment for a date two weeks away. She then went to find Grissom, who was laying in bed. Sara undressed and slipped in next to him. "So, how did you make out?" Grissom asked, resting an arm across her stomach.

"I have an appointment in two weeks," Sara stated, facing him.

Sara fidgeted with her hands and sighed. "Catherine knows," she announced.

"That took a long time," Grissom said sarcastically.

"That's what I said too. She said she'd keep a lid on it, but everyone else is probably going to find out."

"Don't worry about it," Grissom stated, moving his hand from her stomach to brush a lock of hair away from her face.

"I'll try not to, that would just make things worse."

"Yeah," Grissom stated.

Grissom slid down in the bed to be eye level with her stomach. He placed a delicate kiss slightly above her navel and tickled her stomach. Sara's shirt slid up further with her movement, and he took the opportunity to trace his hand from her navel up to the bottom of her ribs. Sara slid down next to him and kissed him tenderly. "I bet I know what to do about this," Sara spoke, tracing her hand downward toward his boxers.

Sara nudged Grissom onto his back and settled on top of him. "Oh, you do?" Grissom teased, pulling on the hem of her shirt.

Their conversation ceased, the two deciding to use touches rather than words.

* * *


	5. Chapter 5

Two weeks later, Grissom and Sara were on their way home when Grissom's cell phone rang. He picked it up and switched it to his left hand to put it to his ear. "Grissom," he answered.

"One of your cases got moved up, I need you here to testify," the prosecuting attorney spoke.

"I have prior commitments this morning," Grissom tried to explain.

"Well, those commitments are going to have to wait, we can't let a criminal get off because you have something else to do. It's hard enough for the jury to understand your bugs, you being absent is not going to help anything."

Sara looked at Grissom, slightly hurt that he wouldn't be going with her, but understanding that their job had to come first sometimes. She nodded in resignation, and Grissom continued to speak. "I need to take my wife home first, what time do you need me in court?"

"Get there no later than nine," the prosecuting attorney spoke, hanging up the phone.

Grissom stared at his cell phone for a second, then closed it and put it back into its clip. He reached across the vehicle to take Sara's hand in his. "I'm sorry," he spoke, stroking the back of her hand.

_It's not his fault. _"There will be other times," Sara stated, "you don't need to see it all anyway."

The corners of Grissom's mouth turned up. "It's not like I haven't seen it all before."

"If you need a peep show I can give you that at home."

Grissom squeezed her hand slightly. "I just wanted to be there to see what the doctor had to say."

"I'll have to take detailed notes," Sara deadpanned.

Grissom pulled into their driveway, and the two entered the house. Grissom changed his shirt, added a tie, and put on a jacket. Sara was drinking a glass of water when Grissom reentered the kitchen. "Call me when you're done at the doctor's office," Grissom spoke, "just leave a message on my cell phone."

Sara nodded and pulled him in for a quick kiss. "Good luck," she spoke.

"You too," Grissom replied before walking out the door.

Sara finished drinking her water, hung her jacket up in the closet, and headed out to her car to leave for her doctor's appointment. _Well, I'm going alone, but I might be more comfortable anyway. He's the one who wanted to go in the first place. I'll just get enough information to bring back to him._

* * *

When Sara arrived at the doctor's office, she was rather antsy. _I should have had Grissom come, he could have at least calmed me down. _Sara waited for her name to be called, and she was eventually invited back into an examining room. "Hello, my name is Dr. Mary Dally," the doctor introduced herself, holding out her hand. 

"My name is Sara Sidle," Sara replied, "but you already know that from my chart."

Sara shook the doctor's hand. "My primary physician recommended you for an OB/GYN," Sara stated, "she said you were one of the best in the field."

"Well, patients tend to like me. The fact that I'm female seems to help too."

Sara smiled, liking the woman's direct manner of speaking. "As we go along, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. First things first, how are you feeling today?" the doctor asked.

"Well, I was fine until my husband got called away to go to court. He was supposed to come with me today."

"There will be plenty of other times for him to come," the doctor smiled.

"Yes, I suppose so," Sara stated, wanting to get the visit started.

The doctor looked over the paperwork that Sara had filled out and then addressed Sara again. "Your husband has otosclerosis?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, he had surgery to manage his condition though."

"As you must already know, it is a hereditary condition."

"Yes, his mother had it also."

The doctor nodded. "Well, plenty of tests can be done to check the baby's hearing once it is born."

Sara nodded, for she already knew about all of that information. "I'm going to have you get on the scale now, before you get changed, so I can get a base weight. After you get changed I'll have my nurse come in and get a blood sample from you, and she'll also take your blood pressure. I'm also going to need a urine sample."

The doctor pointed to the scale, and Sara walked over and stepped onto it. The doctor fiddled with the sliders and quickly obtained her weight. The doctor frowned at the reading, but she wrote the number down and allowed Sara to get off of the scale. "The bathroom is through the door in the corner of the room, you can give my nurse the urine sample when she comes in. She'll be in in about ten minutes, take your time."

The doctor left Sara alone with a specimen cup and a gown. _This is wonderful already, I am absolutely loving this pregnancy. Not. I should be happy, and I am, I'm just having a little difficulty showing it right now. I doubt a nice exam down there is going to help either. Think of the end result, think of the end result. _Sara grabbed the specimen cup and disappeared into the bathroom.

* * *

When Grissom arrived at the courthouse, there were numerous reporters outside trying to get information about the case. Their loud voices helped to fuel his growing headache, and the familiar pounding began behind his eyes. _Great, I not only had to be called away from Sara, I have to deal with this too. _Grissom managed to push his way into the courthouse, and the prosecuting attorney found him inside. "Come with me, I need to speak with you first," the prosecuting attorney spoke, leading him down the hallway. 

Grissom followed the man down the hallway to a conference room. There was a water cooler inside, and Grissom got himself a cup of water. "You look horrible," the prosecuting attorney spoke.

"Thank you very much," Grissom said sarcastically, "first you pulled me away from my wife, and now I've got a killer migraine. Can we get on with this?"

The prosecuting attorney took another look at Grissom and started to review the facts for the case. When he was finished, he stood up to leave. "Dr. Grissom, we'll need you in the courtroom now."

Grissom stood up and followed the man out of the conference room.

* * *

Following her exam, Sara was allowed to change back into her clothes. The doctor then sat down with Sara in her office. "Do you have any questions?" the doctor asked. 

"I don't specifically have any questions, no, but my husband wasn't able to be here. Do you have any pamphlets, anything tangible, that I can give him to read over."

The doctor reached behind her and pulled some pamphlets from the rack. "These should tell the two of you a lot more about pregnancy," she said, setting them down and grabbing one more, "and this will tell you about what foods you should avoid."

The doctor set the last pamphlet down and looked at Sara. "The main thing you need to pay attention to is the fact that you shouldn't be drinking more than two cups of coffee per day, and it's even better to cut it out entirely."

Sara nodded. "Well, morning sickness cut it out for me."

"That leads me to the other thing we need to talk about."

"What's that?"

"You need to start gaining some weight."

Sara looked at the doctor and set her jaw. "I will obviously gain weight with the pregnancy," Sara started.

"Do you know how much you weigh?"

"Of course I do, you just weighed me."

"So you probably know how much you weighed when you went to your primary care physician for your last checkup."

"Yes I do," Sara stated hesitantly, "where are you going with this?"

"You currently weigh 102 pounds. Your last checkup, you weighed 107 pounds. You are five foot eight! At your current weight, you have a BMI of 15.5, that's three points below the underweight marker!"

"So what, do you think I have an eating disorder or something?" Sara attacked.

"Sara, take a deep breath and calm down for a minute, stress isn't good for you or the baby."

Sara took a deep breath, and the doctor continued. "Your paperwork says you work the night shift, how is that going?"

"Quite well, my solve rates are high."

"It must be a pretty stressful job."

"It can be at times."

"Do you take a lunch break?"

"I am required to."

"What do you eat?"

"Usually a salad or a sandwich."

"What do you eat when you're home?"

"The equivalent of a dinner."

"How about breakfast?"

"Not usually."

"Well, first of all, I'm going to recommend that you eat three meals a day," the doctor stated, "even if you don't feel like eating a large meal, you need to eat something before you go to work."

Sara sighed. "I don't see how this is such a big problem, it's just a couple of pounds, I'll put on that and more with the baby."

The doctor attempted to give Sara a reality check. "If you don't get your weight up, there might not be a baby," the doctor emphasized, "your BMI is very low, and you could have a miscarriage as a result. It is imperative that you start to eat healthier and more regularly."

Sara was taken aback by the doctor's statement. _I could kill the baby. If the baby dies, it'll be my fault. How about the other one, was that my fault too?_

The doctor watched Sara's face go white, and she raced around the desk to put a hand on her shoulder. "Keep taking deep breaths Sara," the doctor instructed, "I'm going to bring you over to the couch."

The doctor rolled Sara's chair over next to the couch, and she carefully lowered Sara from the chair to the couch. The doctor put a pillow behind her head and another pillow underneath her feet to elevate them. "Relax Sara," the doctor stated, "everything is going to be okay, keep taking deep breaths."

When Sara got more under control, she moved to sit up, but the doctor rested a hand on her shoulder. "Stay there for a few minutes while we talk."

"Am I hurting the baby?" Sara voiced her fears.

"No, no," the doctor reassured her, "it is just important that you gain some weight to put your BMI up a little. It will decrease the risk of miscarriage, and it will improve your overall health. I don't think you are consciously choosing not to eat, I just don't think you're taking enough time to get some food into you."

Sara took a deep breath and nodded, relieved that things weren't quite as severe as she had thought. "Do you do this with all of your patients?" Sara asked.

"I was just trying to get you to understand the importance of eating healthy."

"Well, it worked. You sure have a different style of getting your point across, but you were very direct. I like that you didn't beat around the bush."

"Pregnancy isn't a game, there are things that you need to know to ensure the health of both you and your baby."

"Is there anything else I need to do?" Sara asked.

The doctor looked back to her chart. "You're a vegetarian?" she questioned.

"Yes, is that a problem too?"

"No, that can be very healthy, you just need to make sure you get enough iron and calcium."

"Well, I eat dairy, bread, and greens, so that shouldn't be too much of a problem."

The doctor nodded. "I am going to write you a prescription for prenatal vitamins. These will help to ensure that you get the right amount of nutrients into your system."

"Anything else?"

"You need to decrease your stress level."

Sara emitted a dry laugh. "I deal with criminals and the dead every day, there is always going to be stress."

"I realize that, but if you get worked up like you just did, it could mean more problems for you or the baby. You need to take the time to relax and get things under control. Try talking about things, taking a few deep breaths, or taking up a new hobby."

"My boss told me to do that once."

"Did you listen?"

"I tried a few things, but I didn't get very far."

"Well, try again and see if you can find something that will help you to relax."

"What do I do if this happens again?" Sara gestured to her position on the couch.

"If you ever feel dizzy or faint, you need to stop what you're doing and lay down and put your feet up. After a few minutes, you should start to feel better, and then you can return to what you were doing. It is important that you don't overexert yourself."

Sara sat up and swung her feet off of the couch. "Is this common?" Sara asked.

"Very, especially with first time mothers."

"Well, at least I wasn't the first."

"You certainly won't be the last either," the doctor smiled.

The doctor flipped through her papers once again. "You're also going to want to talk to your boss about any hazards you might encounter on the job. With the nature of your job, there might be special precautions or certain chemicals you might need to avoid."

"Well, our standard precautions protect us from most hazards, but I'll make sure I don't come into contact with any particularly hazardous fumes."

The doctor nodded. "That would be a very good thing," the doctor replied, "if you wouldn't want your baby in a particular situation, don't expose yourself to the situation."

"I get migraine headaches quite often," Sara explained, "is it safe for me to take my medication if I need it?"

The doctor looked down at Sara's chart and noted the type of medication she was prescribed. "During the first trimester of pregnancy, and frankly, the entire pregnancy, we try to reduce the drugs entering the system that could disrupt the formation of the baby's organs. If you have a particularly bad migraine, you should try taking acetaminophen. For now, I do not suggest that you take any other medications."

Sara nodded. _This is going to be fun, if I get a migraine, it's going to be a killer. _"Is there anything else?"

"No, I think that's all," the doctor stated, "just remember to eat well and get plenty of rest. If you have any more questions, you can call my office."

"Thank you," Sara spoke, shaking the woman's hand.

The doctor led Sara out of the office, and Sara walked out to her car. _Wow, I need to go home and get some sleep, I'm exhausted. Who knew going to a doctor's appointment could be so exhausting? _Forgetting about calling Grissom, Sara started up her car and headed for home.

* * *

"The prosecution would like to call CSI Dr. Gil Grissom to the stand," the prosecuting attorney spoke. 

Grissom was sitting right behind the prosecution's table, leaning his head on his left hand. _This headache is killing me, it would have helped if I had my medication with me. It also would have helped if I wasn't here to begin with. _"Dr. Grissom, please come to the stand," the judge spoke.

_I hope Sara's doing okay, her appointment would have started a few minutes ago._ The prosecuting attorney turned around in his chair and startled Grissom, causing him to sit back up. "Gil, we've called you to the stand two times, you need to get up there," the prosecuting attorney barked.

Grissom struggled to keep his face impassive as he vacated his seat and headed up to the witness stand. _I need to get myself under control, I can't believe I was daydreaming in court. I just need to get done testifying so I can go home. _"Is everything okay Dr. Grissom?" the judge asked after he had been sworn in.

"Yes your honor," Grissom spoke, "I apologize to the court for the delay."

The judge nodded, and the prosecution began it's questioning.

* * *

Following his court mishap, Grissom returned home. Sara still hadn't arrived, for her car wasn't in the driveway, and after checking his cell phone, he realized that she still hadn't called. _I guess she's not done yet. I'm sure she'll find me when she gets home. _Grissom went straight to the bathroom, retrieved his migraine medication, and swallowed the pills with a cup of water. He dragged himself into the bedroom, stripped down to his boxers, and slid under the covers. He brought his hand to his head and tried to get comfortable. _If the ringing would just stop, I might be able to get some sleep. I've had more than enough for today. _Grissom reached over to the alarm clock radio, turned it on, and slipped the dial so it fell in between two stations. He adjusted the volume so it wasn't as loud, and he tried to drown out the ringing so he could get to sleep. Grissom eventually turned onto his left side, pulled Sara's pillow close to him, and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

When Sara pulled into the driveway, she realized her mistake when she saw Grissom's vehicle. _I forgot to call Grissom, I hope he isn't worried._ Sara let herself into the house and set her prescription and pamphlets down on the kitchen table. She entered the bedroom and found Grissom asleep on the bed, his arms wrapped around her pillow, his body strewn across the whole bed. _Well, it wouldn't have mattered if I had called him anyway, I would have just woken him up. He sure looks comfortable, too bad he didn't leave any room for me to join him. _Sara heard the obnoxious sound of the radio static and frowned. _Why the hell does he have the radio on like that? _Sara walked around to his side of the bed, turned the radio off, and set the alarm for later that evening. She put on her pajamas, grabbed a spare pillow and blanket out of the closet, and headed out into the living room. She laid down on the couch and tried to snuggle into the pillow. _Well, I guess it's the couch for today. It's not that bad anyway, I just need some sleep. Grissom and I can talk later, we sure have plenty to discuss. _Sara rested her hand on her stomach and drifted off to sleep while thinking about the future.

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

When Grissom woke up later that evening, he noticed that the alarm clock radio was no longer playing. _That's odd, maybe Sara turned it off when she came in. _Grissom looked back to the bed and realized that Sara was not laying in it. _Well, she's not here, but she still could have turned it off. _Grissom realized that the alarm was set to go off, so he turned it off and got out of bed. Grissom pulled a pair of sweatpants on and ventured out of the bedroom to find Sara.

As Grissom entered the living room, he realized Sara was sleeping on the couch. _I can't believe she's doing this again, especially since she's pregnant. There is no way she can be comfortable on that couch. _"Honey," Grissom spoke, rubbing a hand up and down her arm.

Sara opened her eyes and groaned. "Why are you waking me up?" Sara mumbled.

"Why are you sleeping on the couch again?"

"You were taking up the entire bed."

"You should have woken me up when you got home, or at least pushed me over," Grissom spoke, "my pregnant wife should not be sleeping on the couch."

Sara closed her eyes again and gave him a small smile. Sara sat up and felt a rumbling in her stomach. "I think someone's a little hungry," Grissom stated, smiling and reaching to rub her stomach.

Sara's thoughts drifted back to the words that the doctor said earlier. _You need to eat something before you go to work. _"Yeah, I guess I am a little hungry," Sara acknowledged, "are you volunteering to make breakfast?"

"Sure, why not? You can go take a shower and get ready while I cook. Omelets sound okay?"

Sara nodded and got up from the couch to head to the bathroom.

* * *

After Grissom got the omelet started in the pan, he sat down at the table with a cup of coffee. He noticed the pamphlets laying there and slid them over in front of him. Grissom skimmed the titles of the pamphlets; _Pregnancy: The Basics_, _Development, What to Avoid, What to Expect_, _Diet_. Grissom flipped the omelet in the pan over before he picked up the diet pamphlet and started to flip through it. 

When Sara entered the kitchen, Grissom had their omelets sitting on the table, and he was still reading the diet pamphlet. Sara sat across from him and took a sip of the orange juice he had poured for her. "Don't even start talking to me about that," Sara stated after setting her juice down.

Grissom set the pamphlet down and looked her in the eye. "Did I say anything?" he asked.

"You were thinking it."

"How did it go at the doctor's office?"

"Everything's okay," Sara stated, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes.

Grissom realized she wasn't telling him everything. "But?"

"She wants me to make sure that I eat enough."

Grissom nodded, knowing her current eating patterns didn't match the diet described in the pamphlet. "Well, you can start off with that omelet," Grissom stated, giving her a small smile.

Sara cut a piece off of her omelet and placed it in her mouth. When she swallowed, she could feel her stomach start to protest. "Griss, I don't think I can eat this," Sara spoke, pushing the omelet away.

Grissom watched Sara's face go pale, and Sara bolted from her chair to get to the bathroom. Grissom set his fork down and followed her. Since she was getting back up from the floor when he got there, he waited at the door while Sara brushed her teeth and rinsed her mouth out. When Sara was done, she walked over to Grissom and wrapped her arms around him. "How about some toast?" Grissom asked.

Sara smiled and kissed his chest. "I guess I can manage that. I'll have something else at work later."

They let go of each other, and Grissom led Sara back out to the kitchen. _At least morning sickness doesn't last for forever._

* * *

Two weeks later, Sara was sitting in the locker room with her head down when Catherine walked in. "You know, it's just going to get harder and harder to conceal this," Catherine stated, "how many times is this today?" 

"Three," Sara spoke, keeping her head down, "I can't seem to keep anything down."

"The wonders of pregnancy."

Sara lifted her head up and took a deep breath. "I need to go catch up with Nick, he's probably wondering where I disappeared to," Sara stated, "we're supposed to be going to a 419."

"I'll catch you later," Catherine replied, "maybe we can go for breakfast after shift."

"I'm not so sure about that, I think I'm just going to want to go home."

"Okay, maybe another time."

Sara nodded and headed out of the break room to meet Nick in the parking lot.

* * *

"What did you do Sar, get lost?" Nick asked when he started their drive to the scene. 

"No, Cath held me up," Sara fabricated.

"Doesn't she have a case to work on too?"

"Yeah, but she just wanted to say a few things," Sara sighed, "we're on the way to the scene Nick, that's all that matters."

Nick didn't pursue any further conversation, and they continued their drive to the scene in silence. _I have had enough of this, this morning sickness is driving me insane._

* * *

Sara and Nick were doing a second walkthrough of the scene when Sara began to feel dizzy. "Nick, I think I need some air," Sara spoke. 

Nick turned to Sara and saw her ashen face. He took her arm and started to lead her out of the house. "What's wrong?" Nick asked.

When Sara got outside of the house, she took a few deep breaths and tried to regain her composure. Nick stood in front of her and tried to look into her eyes. "What's wrong Sar?" Nick asked again.

The officer stationed at the door looked at Nick and tried to figure out what was going on. "Just watch the scene," Nick instructed.

Nick turned his attention back to Sara. Sara started to sway, and Nick wrapped his arm tightly around her back so she wouldn't fall. "I need to sit down," Sara managed to get out.

Nick slowly lowered her down onto the grass, and Sara laid back so she was flat with the ground. Nick knelt down so he was next to her head. "Sar, what is going on?" Nick asked once again, worried about what could be happening within her.

"I'm okay, I'm just really dizzy," Sara replied, closing her eyes.

"Do you need a doctor?"

"No, I just need a few minutes. Can you get something to put under my feet?"

Keeping Sara in his line of sight, Nick walked over to the department vehicle and pulled a spare field kit from the back. After putting the kit under her feet, he resumed his position next to her and pulled his cell phone off of his belt. "Sar, I've got to call Griss," Nick explained, "you want to tell me what's going on?"

"Nick, just call him, he knows already."

Nick frowned and speed dialed Grissom. "Grissom," he answered.

"Grissom, I've got a problem at my scene," Nick stated.

"What's the problem?"

"Sara's not feeling so good. Right now I've got her outside laying on the ground, she insists she doesn't need to see a doctor."

Grissom grabbed his keys and walked out into the parking lot to leave for their scene. "Do you have her feet up? Is she in any pain?" Grissom asked, worried about her condition.

Sara could hear every word that Grissom was saying, so she shook her head when she heard his question. "Griss, I've got her feet up, and she says she's not in any pain, she's just dizzy and faint. What is going on with her?"

Grissom ignored the question and asked one of his own. "Do you need anyone else to help you process that scene?"

"No, I should be able to manage it by myself," Nick replied, "do you know what's going on with her?"

Grissom hesitated to tell him, but he figured he should know. "She's pregnant Nick. Dizziness is a common symptom of early pregnancy, it goes along with morning sickness. Just keep her calm and stay with her until I get there."

_That's what I figured. _"Alright Griss, I've got everything under control."

Nick closed his cell phone and turned back to Sara, who had heard their entire conversation. "You're pregnant?"

"Yeah," Sara spoke, slightly nodding her head.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

Sara opened her eyes and gave him a small smile. "We wanted to wait. I'm only ten weeks along."

"Well, we had our suspicions."

"I figured as much."

Sara brought a hand across her eyes and took a deep breath. "How do you feel now?" Nick asked.

"I'm okay," Sara stated, starting to get up.

Nick placed a hand on her shoulder so she couldn't move. "You're not moving until Griss gets here, I'm not going to let you do anything to get him mad at me."

Sara smiled and closed her eyes again. "I feel so stupid, I couldn't even process a simple homicide."

"Well, you know that you have a lot of things going on right now," Nick stated, "maybe this is a sign that you shouldn't be trying to do so much. How much sleep did you get last night?"

"Five hours."

"You definitely need more sleep than that."

"I know Nick, you don't need to lecture me too. Today just hasn't been a good day, or a good night."

"Pretty bad morning sickness, huh?"

"Yeah, as Catherine so nicely pointed out to me before."

"Catherine knows?"

"Yeah, she figured it out a couple of weeks ago, so I was kind of forced to tell her."

"Well, you know we're all here to support you, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

"I think congratulations are in order also."

"Yeah, yeah," Sara muttered.

They continued to carry on a casual conversation until Grissom arrived. "Nick, please go start processing the scene," Grissom stated.

"Feel better Sar," Nick said, squeezing her hand before he stood up.

Nick walked back into the house, and Grissom took his place next to Sara. "Are you okay?" Grissom asked, brushing a stray lock of hair away from her face.

"Yeah, I was just really dizzy, and now I'm really tired."

"Alright, let's get you over to the car, I'm taking you home," Grissom stated.

When Sara didn't protest, Grissom was rather concerned. _Wow, she really is exhausted. I'll have to make sure she gets more sleep during the day. _"Are you okay to walk?" Grissom asked.

"Yeah, just help me up off of the ground."

Grissom removed the field kit from underneath her legs and helped her to sit up on the ground. "Are you still okay?"

"Yeah," Sara replied.

Grissom wrapped an arm around her back and helped her up of off the ground. After he was sure that she was steady on her feet, Grissom led her over to the car. He opened the back door and helped her to sit down on the seat. "I want you to lay down and get comfortable on the way home," Grissom spoke, "just take it easy."

Grissom closed her door and walked around the car to get into the driver's seat. He looked into the back seat to see if Sara was resting comfortably. Sara was laying on her right side with her eyes closed and her arms resting under her head. Her legs were bent at the knee and curled up toward her chest. "Are you okay honey?" Grissom asked.

Sara opened her eyes and looked into his. "I'm fine, let's just go home," Sara said quietly.

Grissom turned back around and started the drive toward their house. _She's supposed to be on her left side, but a short drive isn't going to hurt her. I'll have to watch over her a bit more. That and try to get some more food into her, she's still too thin, and I know she's not going to want to hear about it from the doctor again. I guess we've just got a lot to talk about._

* * *

The drive home took longer than normal because Grissom was driving quite slow, but Sara didn't seem to notice. After Grissom had pulled into the driveway and turned the car off, he looked into the backseat to find Sara sleeping. He walked around to the backseat passenger's side door and opened it, hoping to help Sara out of the car and into the house. He hated to wake her, but it was necessary in order to get her out of the car. "Sara, honey, we're home," Grissom spoke, running his hand through her hair. 

Sara brought her hand to her head and sat up in the backseat. She slid over to the edge of the seat and allowed Grissom to help her out of the car. He wrapped an arm around her back and led her up to the front door. Grissom walked with her into the bedroom, and the two of them sat down on the edge of the bed. "Gil, I don't want to talk now, I just want to get undressed and lay down. I am absolutely exhausted," Sara spoke.

"Can I help you with anything?" Grissom asked, rubbing a hand across her back.

"Last time I checked, I still knew how to get undressed," Sara stated, "why don't you go back to work, I'll be fine here."

"No way," Grissom replied, "I want to be here in case you need anything. You are not going to be able to convince me to leave, so save your energy. I will leave you alone so you can get changed and into bed. I'll be in the living room if you need me."

Grissom got up off of the bed and moved to leave the bedroom. "Gil," Sara spoke before he could leave.

Grissom turned around and saw that Sara was near tears. _What happened within the lapse of thirty seconds? I've heard about the effects of pregnancy hormones, but I've never witnessed them firsthand. _Grissom walked back across the room, sat on the bed, and pulled her into his arms. Sara rested her head on his chest as tears ran down her cheeks. "Shh, everything is okay," Grissom whispered, "it's just been a long day."

Sara sniffled and tried to stop her tears. "It's just that so many things are changing. I'm used to going into work on whatever sleep I have gotten and getting through it with no problem. I'm also used to eating when I want to, and actually being able to eat. Now I can hardly keep anything down. I'll be fine for a while, and then I'll feel horrible."

"Well, hormones do tend to mess with your body," Grissom tried to explain.

"Tell me about it. I can't believe I'm crying right now," Sara tried to wipe away her tears.

Grissom pulled slightly away from Sara so he could kiss her forehead. "How about getting you ready for bed?" Grissom changed the subject, trying to distract her somewhat.

"Can you join me?" Sara asked, "I'm sure your old body could use some rest too."

"Who are you calling old?" Grissom feigned hurt before briefly kissing her lips.

"Oh, sorry, did I do that?" Sara shot back.

Grissom kissed Sara again and gave her another quick hug. When the two separated, Sara pulled her clothes off and put a long t-shirt on, and Grissom stripped down to his boxers. They both relaxed under the covers, and Grissom pulled Sara to his chest. Grissom's hands made their way under Sara's t-shirt, and he rested them on her stomach. "You're a quarter of the way there," Grissom stated, kissing the back of her neck.

"I hadn't even thought about that," Sara stated, "I've been thinking about so many other things."

"When is your next appointment?"

"In two weeks. Every four weeks until twenty-eight weeks, every two after that until thirty-six weeks, then every week."

"Someone's been doing some research," Grissom teased.

"No, someone got lectured by her doctor."

The two laid in silence for a minute until Grissom spoke. "I had to tell Nick," Grissom stated, hoping she wouldn't be angry.

"I know, I heard you," Sara replied, "I think we need to tell everyone when we go into work later. It's not right to keep it from them anymore."

"Okay, we can tell them before assignments."

After a few minutes, Grissom started to speak to Sara again, but he realized that she had fallen asleep. Not very tired at all, but wanting some time to just lay with Sara, Grissom kept his arms around her, and his thoughts drifted to various topics. _We need to talk about work when she wakes up. It's going to come up eventually, and I'd like to talk about it before she becomes more uncomfortable. I sure hope she feels better when she wakes up._

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

When Catherine arrived home from work that morning, she heard the unmistakable sound of vomiting. "Lindsey," she called, trying to see if everything was alright.

Catherine continued down the hallway and found Lindsey hunched over the toilet. "What's wrong Linds?" she asked.

"I think I might have the flu or something, my stomach is bothering me," Lindsey stated, vomiting again, "I don't think I can go to school today."

Lindsey pulled herself up off of the floor and started brushing her teeth. Catherine reached out and felt her forehead. "Well, you don't feel warm," Catherine stated, "why don't you go lay down, and I'll make you some hot tea."

"I don't like tea," Lindsey complained.

"It'll help you feel better. Go get comfortable in bed."

Catherine left the bathroom and headed back out to the kitchen. She put some water on the stove to boil, and she ripped open the teabag package. After dropping the teabag in an empty cup, Catherine opened the lower cabinet door to throw the wrapper in the garbage. What met her eye caused her anger to rise exponentially. "Lindsey Willows, get out here now!" Catherine yelled.

Sitting in the top of the garbage can were three empty bottles of beer and an empty bottle of vodka. _Why does she do this, why must she always find ways of getting herself into even more trouble? _Lindsey walked out into the kitchen and stood before her mother with her hands on her hips. "What?" Lindsey asked, her voice laced with attitude.

Catherine grabbed the garbage can and dropped it in between them. "Stomach flu my ass," Catherine seethed, "what were you thinking?"

_I can't believe I forgot to get rid of that after I cleaned up everything else. _Lindsey stayed silent and glared at her mother. "Did you think I wasn't going to find the evidence?" Catherine continued, "I'm a CSI Lindsey!"

"So you tell me all of the time. All you ever do is work!" Lindsey shouted back.

"So you decided to drink while I was gone? You begged me for weeks to be able to stay here by yourself at night and not have to go over to your aunts! I trusted you, and you did this?"

"You can't tell me that you never experimented!" Lindsey argued.

"It is not your mission in life to turn into me. Twelve year old girls should not be drinking!"

Catherine was about to continue when the phone rang. She walked over to the side counter and picked up the receiver. "Willows," she stated.

"Finally, someone picks up. I have called your cell phone numerous times, and I have left a couple of messages on your home phone."

Catherine looked down at the cradle and realized that the light was blinking and that the display read that there were three messages. "What's the problem Nancy?" Catherine asked.

Lindsey groaned when she realized who was talking. She tried to leave the kitchen, but the look on her mother's face told her to stay put. "I woke up this morning and found my daughter throwing up repeatedly in the bathroom. The clothes that she had on smelt like alcohol, and when questioned as to why, she said that she was at your house, drinking with Lindsey."

"It was almost ten o'clock when I left last night, how could she have gotten out of your house?"

"Apparently she has been sneaking out through her bedroom window."

"Nancy, I assure you that I had no knowledge as to what was going on."

"That's the problem. You leave that girl home alone at night so you can go to work. Did you ever think that this is a time when she needs direction and guidance, not abandonment?" the woman yelled, "I didn't have any disciplinary problems with my daughter until she started spending time with your daughter. Catherine, this is the last straw, I don't want your daughter anywhere near mine. They could have killed themselves last night the way they were drinking. Get your daughter under control!"

Before Catherine had a chance to reply, the other woman hung up. Catherine slammed the phone back into the cradle and turned to her daughter. "You better start explaining things, and you better do it fast," Catherine seethed, "what was Amanda doing over here?"

"We were just hanging out," Lindsey stated.

"At ten o'clock at night with absolutely no supervision? What was the first rule of our agreement?"

"Keep all of the doors locked at all times and keep the security system on."

"Lindsey, this isn't a time for games! What were the two of you doing?"

"Isn't that kind of obvious?"

"What did you drink, what did she drink, and how much?"

"She'd tried stuff at her house before, she said she liked the vodka," Lindsey replied, "it was only half full."

_I know it was half full, I do have some control over this house. _"So you had the three bottles of beer?"

"Yeah, I couldn't get into the other stuff."

"How did she get home?"

"She walked."

"You let her leave this house drunk?"

"She wasn't drunk."

"She had half a bottle of vodka!"

"I said the bottle was half full, I never said she drank it all!"

"How much did she drink?"

"She had a couple of cups of vodka mixed with soda. She'd pour some vodka in the bottom and fill the rest of the cup up with soda."

_Great, now I've got a kid who knows how to mix drinks. I was wondering what would possess them to drink straight vodka, it doesn't taste so good. _"Where did the rest go?"

"Well, some spilled on her shirt, and the rest went home with her in the soda bottle she brought with her."

"How long was she here?"

"About eleven to three. She said she had to get back, so I said bye, and she walked home."

"Has this happened before?"

"The drinking? No, I had never touched the stuff."

"How about her being over here?"

"We've done it a couple of times. She had never stayed that late though."

"We're going to have a long talk about this later," Catherine stated, "I need to call Amanda's mother back. Go to your room and lay down."

Lindsey turned and walked out of the kitchen. Catherine picked up the phone again and called Nancy back. "Nancy, I just got most of the story out of Lindsey, I think you have a bigger problem on your hands," Catherine explained.

"How can you say that? You're the one who has the messed up daughter."

"Right now your daughter is in possession of a soda bottle filled with vodka. I thought you would want to know so you could take it from her. You also might want to keep a better eye on your alcoholic beverages. Lindsey told me that Amanda had been experimenting with them before."

"How do you know that your daughter hasn't?"

"That is one thing that I keep close tabs on, I would have noticed if any was missing."

"So you keep tabs on your alcohol, but not your daughter? That's encouraging."

"Nancy, I am not trying to argue with you. Believe me, this will never happen again. I just wanted you to know that you might need to sit down and talk with your daughter."

"Do you have any idea how long this has been going on?"

"Lindsey told me that Amanda has only been over here a couple of times and that last night was the first time they had had anything to drink. They drank over the span of four hours, and although both of them are pretty hung over right now, neither of them drank any amount that would be lethal. Lindsey states that Amanda didn't seem drunk when she left here."

Catherine heard a long sigh on the other end of the line. "This is coming from your daughter who was probably also drunk. I think it is best that the two of them stay away from each other right now," Nancy stated, "this can't happen again."

"They'll see each other at school, that's enough. Lindsey isn't going to be going out of the house for a while."

"Neither is Amanda. Thank you for letting me know about the vodka, my husband just found it."

The two exchanged an awkward goodbye, and Catherine ended the call. She sat down at the table and put her head in her hands. _How did I let this happen, am I that bad as a mother? I can process evidence to find criminals, but I can't control my own daughter? She's twelve, if this is where it's starting, what is she going to do next? Lindsey and I need to sit down and have a long talk. She's not going to be leaving this house for a while. _Phone in hand, Catherine started dialing a familiar number.

* * *

Sara woke up to Grissom's thumb lazily grazing the underside of her breast. "Gil, don't," she mumbled. 

Grissom stopped and slid his hand back down to rest over her stomach. He settled on kissing her neck and holding her close. "They're tender, they definitely do not want to be touched right now," Sara tried to explain.

"That's okay," Grissom spoke, continuing kisses behind her ear and down her neck.

"Gil, stop, please," Sara stated, pulling slightly away from him, "I can't do this right now."

Sara sat up on the edge of the bed and then walked over to her dresser to pull out a pair of sweatpants. She put them on and looked back at Grissom. She ventured back over to the bed and placed a kiss on his forehead. "I'm going to go make breakfast, why don't you go take a shower?"

"Sure, I'll be out in a few minutes."

Sara nodded and walked out of the bedroom to head to the kitchen.

* * *

When Grissom walked out into the kitchen, Sara was sitting at the table, eating a bowl of cereal. She had set out a bowl of cereal for him across the table, and the milk was sitting next to it. "Why Ms. Sidle, you did so much cooking this morning," Grissom joked, resting his hands on her shoulders. 

"I didn't feel like it," Sara explained, "so I thought cereal would be okay."

"It is," Grissom stated, "are you alright though?"

"Yeah, just the usual."

Grissom kissed the top of her head and moved to sit across the table from her. "Before you sit down, you might want to call Cath," Sara relayed, "she left three messages on the machine, and she called my cell a couple of times. I'm assuming it's about something important."

"Alright, I'll call her from my cell," Grissom said, "I'll be back in a few minutes."

Grissom left the kitchen and walked back into the bedroom to retrieve his cell phone off of the side table. He sat down on the bed and speed dialed Catherine. "Willows," she answered.

"Cath, what's so important that you called so many times?"

"Well, after covering shift for the two of you, I went home and found my twelve year old daughter hung over. I was calling you because I need to take off tonight."

Grissom was silent for a minute while he digested the information. "Catherine, I think you need to sit her down and have another talk."

"I realize that Gil. Right now I've got a huge mess on my hands. Can I have tonight off or not?"

"Of course you can have tonight off. Is there anything else you need?"

"I need to figure out where the hell I went wrong in raising my kid. I'll call later or something Gil, I just need to go now."

"Alright Cath."

Grissom closed his cell phone, set it back on the table, and sat on the bed. _One day I might have to deal with that. How would I deal with that? With our jobs the way they are, how will we raise a child? _Grissom tried to clear the negative thoughts out of his head, and he ventured back out into the kitchen.

* * *

"What did Cath need?" Sara asked when Grissom sat down at the table. 

"She's having some problems with Lindsey. She asked for the night off," Grissom explained.

"Oh, that doesn't sound like fun," Sara stated, finishing the last bites of her cereal.

Sara got up from the table and put her bowl in the sink. "Do you think we can go for a walk after you're done eating?"

"Sure."

"Okay, I'm going to jump in the shower while you're finishing."

Sara exited the kitchen and walked down to the bathroom.

* * *

When Sara exited the bedroom, she found Grissom sitting on the couch in the living room. "Are you all ready?" Grissom asked. 

"Yeah."

Grissom got up off of the couch and led her to the door. He locked it behind them, and they started walking down the sidewalk. "Where do you want to go?" Grissom asked, taking her right hand in his left.

"I thought we could go down to the park. The doctor said that walking can help alleviate some of the symptoms."

"Yeah, I read about that. Some extra rest can help too."

"Oh, is that your not so casual way of hinting that I need to get some more sleep?"

Grissom shrugged. "Am I that readable?"

"Sometimes," Sara replied, "what do you really want to talk about?"

"You don't have to push so hard at work. If you don't feel well, just say something, and I'll keep you in the lab."

"Griss, you know I don't want to stay in the lab all of the time. It is perfectly fine for me to go into the field."

Grissom definitely did not want to start an argument. "How about this. If you don't feel well, say something ahead of time, and maybe you can take the few extra minutes that you need to feel a little better. I can't have you passing out in the field on me again."

"Griss, I can't prevent that, it's unpredictable. I can't control so many of the things that are going on with me right now."

"I did some reading," Grissom explained, "I know the three meal a day thing isn't working for you. Why don't you try eating smaller meals throughout the day?"

Sara stopped walking and looked down at the ground. "You're not going to gang up on me too, are you?"

Grissom rested his hand on her shoulder, and Sara looked up at him. "Sara, I'm not trying to push you to do anything. I merely thought that if I did some research I might be able to find something that would work for you. The baby needs food."

Sara leaned into his chest and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Thank you," Sara spoke, "I know you're trying to help. You're probably just as worried about this as I am."

"I do worry about you when you push too hard, or when you don't get enough sleep, and you feel horrible. I just want to know if there is anything that I can do to help."

"For now, can you just walk with me?" Sara asked, looking up at him again.

Grissom smiled and kissed the top of her head. "Sure honey."

Grissom wrapped an arm around her waist, and the two began walking once again.

* * *

When Catherine finished her telephone conversations, she took two bottles of water out of the refrigerator and walked down the hallway to Lindsey's room. _Well, here goes nothing. Hopefully I can try and get some things sorted out. _"Lindsey, I brought you some water," Catherine stated, handing the water to her, "you should drink it so you don't get dehydrated." 

Lindsey sat up in the bed, and Catherine sat on the end of the bed. Catherine let Lindsey take a few sips of water before she spoke. "Lindsey, I don't know what to do about this. I don't know why you keep doing these things. What can I do so this doesn't happen again?"

"Actually be home for once, actually spend time with me," Lindsey stated, "you're either at work or tired from work. You never have time for me."

"Lindsey, you know I have to work nights," Catherine started.

"That's always what you end up saying. Work always comes first," Lindsey interrupted.

"Lindsey, that is not true."

"You have a great way of showing it. I don't want to talk to you, leave."

"Lindsey, this is my house, and I am your mother, you need to show some respect."

"I never had a problem with dad, he was there for me all of the time."

"Don't make this about your father."

"He's dead mom, why don't you show some respect?" Lindsey shot back.

"You're grounded," Catherine stated, walking toward the door.

"For how long?"

"Indefinitely. When you lose your attitude we'll talk about your sleeping arrangements."

Catherine walked out of the room before Lindsey could argue. As she walked back into the kitchen, she heard Lindsey slam the door closed. _That went wonderfully. I have no idea what I'm going to do with her. _Catherine grabbed a cooler from the closet and turned toward the refrigerator. _If I can't trust my daughter, I've got to get the house cleaned out. This isn't happening again. _Catherine opened the refrigerator, took out the bottles of beer, and set them in the cooler. She then added all of the rest of the alcohol that was in the house. She put the lid on the cooler and carried it out to her car. _I'll figure all of that out later, right now I need some sleep. _At a loss as to what to do to make sure Lindsey stayed in the house, Catherine pulled a security sensor from the living room window and affixed one side of it to the door and the other side to the doorframe. _It may be extreme, but I'll know if she gets up. _Catherine headed to her bedroom, changed, and tried to relax in bed. _She reminds me so much of me, it's scary._

* * *

When Grissom and Sara got to the park, Grissom led Sara over to a bench, and the two of them sat down. "How do you feel?" Grissom asked. 

"A little tired, but I'm okay," Sara replied, leaning against his shoulder.

"I would like to go back to that vendor and get a bottle of water for you," Grissom stated, "will you be okay here for a few minutes?"

Sara sat up straight and smiled. "I'll be fine."

Grissom squeezed her hand and walked back toward where he had seen a vendor.

* * *

A few minutes later, Grissom sat down next to Sara and handed her a bottle of water. "Thanks," Sara spoke, taking it from him and opening it to take a sip. 

Grissom opened a bottle of his own and took a long pull from it. Sara slid over on the bench so she was leaning against him once again. "It's a pretty nice day," Sara stated.

"Yeah, it's not really hot," Grissom replied.

The two sat together for a few minutes before either one of them said anything else. "How are we ever going to be involved in our children's lives?" Grissom asked, playing with a lock of Sara's hair.

"What do you mean?" Sara questioned.

"We work nights, how are we ever going to see our kids?"

"Kids? We don't even have one yet, and you're thinking about more?"

"Sara, that's not what I mean. How would we be there for our child while working strange hours at work?"

"Right now, I don't have the faintest idea. I'm sure we would be able to manage juggling our child and our work."

"It's going to be challenging."

"Since when are you not ready for a challenge? Why are you so worried about this right now anyway? We have plenty of time before we have to start worrying about school and stuff like that."

As soon as Sara spoke, she realized what had brought the conversation on. "Gil, we're going to make mistakes," Sara stated, "but I have confidence that we will be able to work through things together. Nothing is set in stone."

Grissom furrowed his brow. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. Things may change, but we'll have to deal with that when we have further context."

Grissom wasn't quite reassured by her statement, but he decided that the park probably wasn't the best place to have their conversation. Grissom kissed the top of Sara's head and ran his hand up and down her arm. "You're going to laugh at this," Sara broke their silence, "but can we start walking back to the house?"

"Sure," Grissom spoke, taking her empty bottle from her.

They got up from the bench, and Grissom threw their empty bottles in a nearby recycling bin. Grissom took Sara's hand in his, and they started their walk back home. _She didn't come straight out and say it, but she admitted that she was tired, that's one step in the right direction. Hopefully I can get her to lay down again when we get home._

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

When Grissom and Sara got back from their walk, Sara went into the bedroom to lay down. _That took absolutely no effort on my part, she really is tired. _Grissom sat on the couch in the living room and rested his laptop on his lap. _This will give me some time to get some more research done. I want to know if I can do anything else to help her._

* * *

Sara woke up that evening to a dull pain in her back. _Walking was supposed to help this, not make it worse. _Sara pulled herself out of bed and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. 

After getting dressed for work, Sara walked out into the living room and found Grissom sitting on the couch, staring intently at the computer screen. "What are you working on?" Sara asked, walking toward him.

Grissom closed the laptop and set it on the table. "I was just doing some reading," he answered.

Sara sat down on his now free lap. "On?"

"The many changes that are going on inside of my beautiful wife," Grissom stated, kissing the back of her neck.

"Well, maybe with your newfound expertise, you can take care of my back for me."

Grissom reached a hand under her shirt and started massaging her lower back. "Did you get a good sleep?" Grissom asked.

"Yes."

"Morning sickness?"

"Nope."

"Good."

"Yup."

"You are very verbose this evening."

Sara smiled. "Yeah."

Grissom stopped massaging and brought his hands to rest at her hips. "Does that feel better?"

"Yeah, thanks."

"Do you want me to make you something to eat?"

"Nah, I'll go figure out what I want. You need to go shower and get ready for work."

Sara got up off of Grissom's lap and started walking toward the kitchen. Grissom pulled himself off of the couch and headed to the bathroom. _Things could be looking a little bit better. Now we just need to tell everyone when we get to work._

* * *

Catherine was woken up that evening by the blaring of the security alarm. _What the hell is that? _Catherine turned over in bed and realized what the sound was. _It's the alarm I put on Lindsey's door, she must be up. _Catherine got out of bed and put her robe on, just in time to be greeted with Lindsey's presence at the door. "You put an alarm on my door!" Lindsey yelled, "What do you think I'm going to do, bolt? For your information, if I wanted to, I would have done that a long time ago!" 

_That's reassuring. _"Lindsey, I just wanted to know when you woke up," Catherine tried to fabricate an explanation.

"Well, that's just wonderful. If you would like to spy on me some more, I will now be going to the bathroom."

Lindsey stormed out of the room, and Catherine sighed. _What am I going to do with her? I don't want to reward her behavior by taking her out to do something, but I've got to do something to get to talk to her._

* * *

Before shift started, Sara gathered up the team in the break room. She waited for Grissom to come into the room before she spoke. "Griss and I have some news to tell you guys," Sara stated, "I'm pregnant." 

Applause sounded around the room and words of congratulations were passed around. "You guys owe me ten bucks," Greg informed Warrick and Nick, "this week was my week."

Sara gave Greg a cold glare. "How long have you known?"

"A couple of weeks. There is a reason that we're one of the best labs in the country."

"Well, just to clear up any assumptions that you may have made, I'm ten weeks along."

"Catherine is going to kill when she finds out she wasn't here for this. Where is she anyway?" Greg asked.

"She had some problems with Lindsey," Sara replied.

"Although I am sure some of you would like to discuss this all night, we do have crime scenes to get to," Grissom interjected.

"Sara, take Greg with you, you have a robbery. Warrick, you've got an accident scene. When you're done there, you can come help me with this 419. Nick, keep working on your 419 from yesterday," Grissom stated.

Sara and Greg left the break room and headed toward the parking lot. Nick and Warrick stayed in the break room an extra minute to talk to Grissom. "We'll look after her Griss," Warrick stated, "she likes to get herself into trouble sometimes."

_If Sara finds out I talked with them about this, she's going to kill me. _"If you start treating her differently, she's going to blow a fuse, and frankly, she doesn't need the extra stress," Grissom replied.

"We'll just make sure she doesn't push the envelope," Nick explained.

"Get to work," Grissom stated, effectively ending the conversation.

Nick and Warrick left the break room, and Grissom left a few minutes later. _At least there are plenty of eyes looking out for her._

* * *

"How do you feel about it?" Greg asked Sara once they started their drive to the scene. 

"About the baby?"

"Yeah."

"Good. It's something that Griss and I both wanted. I could do without the morning sickness though."

Greg smiled. "That's what gave you away, it was blatantly obvious that something was going on."

"Yeah, probably that, and Catherine's big mouth."

"Nah, all she said was that something seemed different. We figured the rest out."

"Then you guys decided to start betting," Sara slapped his shoulder.

"Why pass up on a good thing?"

Sara started laughing and Greg joined in. "At least I know for sure that something was going on," Greg stated.

"What do you mean?"

"You see, you seem to have forgotten something," Greg stated, purposely leaving out the details.

"What?"

"Well, it only happens once a year," Greg hinted.

Sara instantly realized her mistake. "Oh Greg, I'm sorry," Sara apologized, "I've had so much going on, and I'm thinking about other things…"

Greg interrupted her before she could continue her rambling. "Sara, I'm just joking with you. Once you get to be the big three o, you don't really need to celebrate your birthdays."

"But we'd usually take you out for breakfast or something. I can't believe I forgot."

"I think I can forgive you, just this once," Greg joked.

"How about we plan for breakfast Friday morning. I'll talk to everyone else and see if they can make it."

"Sara, I said you forgot, I didn't say everyone else forgot."

"You have got to be kidding me. No one could say anything to me and clue me in?"

Greg smiled at her confusion. "How about we go for food on break and call it even. I know you're really busy right now, and you don't always feel that good."

"Alright Greg, I'm paying though."

"I never pass up a free meal," Greg said, smiling.

Sara smiled and kept driving.

* * *

Catherine took the time to get dressed, and then she took the alarm off of Lindsey's door. _I should have seen her reaction coming, she's not a criminal, she's my daughter. _Catherine knocked on Lindsey's door and waited for her to answer. "Go away," Lindsey replied, "you don't seem to want me out of this room." 

Catherine turned the knob on the door and let herself in. _That's one thing I did right, no lock on her door so she can't lock herself in. _"Lindsey, I'm making an effort here. I've got the night off, we could at least try to spend it in a more productive manner."

"You don't have to go into work at all?"

"Not at all."

"Can we do something?"

"Can we talk about this?"

Lindsey stayed silent for a minute, thinking about the proposition. "Can we get pizza and watch some of the movies that you gave me for Christmas?"

"Sure. I'll go call ahead for it, you get dressed and ready to go pick it up."

Catherine turned to walk out of the room. "Mom," Lindsey stated.

Catherine turned back around to face Lindsey. "Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Catherine smiled. "We'll work on doing this more often."

Lindsey smiled, and Catherine left the room. _She's talking, not yelling. That's progress._

* * *

When Catherine and Lindsey got home with the pizza, they sat on the couch and turned the television on. "Let me go get my movies," Lindsey spoke, getting up from the couch. 

Lindsey returned a few minutes later with three DVDs, all of which were unopened. She sat down on the couch and proceeded to take the plastic wrapping off of the one she wanted to watch. "You haven't even opened the DVDs I gave you for Christmas?" Catherine questioned.

"Well, I got them kind of late to begin with, and what's the use of them if you don't have anyone to watch them with?"

_Great, another point to the 'I'm never around' department. _"Lindsey, I've been home, why didn't you ask?"

"You were always doing something else, and you're usually gone by now anyway."

"You should be in bed by now, you have school."

Lindsey shrugged her shoulders and put the DVD into the player. After pressing a few buttons on the remote, the previews started. "Lindsey, why did you decide to drink?"

"It wasn't my idea. Amanda asked me if I had ever tried beer, and when I told her no, she started describing what it tasted like and what it made you feel like. She opened the fridge, handed me the bottle, and told me to try it. I was curious, so I did."

"How did she end up with the vodka?"

"She asked me where you kept it, and I told her. She said that I was just a rookie, but since she was more experienced, she could drink the harder stuff."

"You have got to be kidding me. Lindsey, you know what alcohol can do to you, and you're so small, if you drank any more than you did, or if you drank it any faster, you could have ended up in the emergency room."

"I'm not stupid mom. I didn't even like the taste of it, but I felt better after drinking it. Amanda kept drinking, so I kept drinking."

"You do realize that it was a really stupid thing to do? Drinking isn't going to get you anywhere in life."

"I know, but Amanda could come over while you weren't here. We talked, we did stuff. I felt cool hanging out with someone who was a little older than me."

_Yeah, really cool. A fourteen year old girl trying to get my twelve year old daughter into drinking. _"Lindsey, I can't leave you here at home anymore, you destroyed my trust in you."

"What am I supposed to do?"

"You're going to have to go back to your aunt's until I can be sure that I can trust you to make the right decisions."

"How long is that going to take?"

"We'll see."

"Can we try to do things together sometimes?"

"All you need to do is ask," Catherine stated, "can you promise me one thing though?"

"What?"

"While you're underage, underage being under twenty-one, don't ever drink again. If someone pressures you to drink, just say no. Do your best to get out of the situation, and if you have a problem, call me."

"I'm not planning on drinking again, it makes you feel horrible afterwards."

"No drugs either."

"I would never touch them. They kill all of your brain cells and you can end up in jail."

_At least she remembers something I taught her. _"Mom, can we stop talking about this, I want to watch the movie," Lindsey stated as the opening credits appeared on the screen.

"Alright Linds," Catherine stated.

The two sat watching the movie, eating pizza and drinking soda.

* * *

"Sara, do you want to take a break and go get some food?" Greg asked. 

Sara looked up from the papers she had been looking at and realized that she was at a good stopping point. "Alright Greg, let me put these papers away, and then we can go," Sara replied.

They cleaned up their workspace and headed to an all night diner not far from the lab. Within minutes they had food in front of them, and they were talking. "How's your sandwich?" Greg asked, gesturing toward her egg and cheese concoction.

"It's pretty good. Is your food good?"

Greg had opted to just have an egg with some hash browns because he didn't want to bother Sara with meat. "Of course it's good. Nothing like a mid-shift meal."

"Yeah. I really am sorry I forgot Greg."

"Stop worrying about it," Greg stated, "I'm just excited to know that pretty soon you're going to have a little one running around that I can baby-sit."

"Right Greg. You'd turn him into a demon."

"Oh, him."

"Or her, whatever. I can't believe that you would be excited by the prospect of babysitting."

"I'm playful, kids like me."

"Because you're around kids a lot."

"There are many things you do not know about me."

"Oh, do tell."

"It's good to have some anonymity."

"Right Greg."

"Just think about it Sara, six and a half more months."

"Greg, I am trying to enjoy my break. Don't make me regret taking you out for a birthday meal."

"Isn't the baby a good thing?"

"Yes Greg. You bugging me about the baby is not. I don't want to talk about it all of the time."

"Why not?"

_Because it hasn't been fourteen weeks yet, and I would lose my mind talking about it nonstop. _"Greg, please, just stop."

Greg realized that he had pushed to far, and he didn't want to deal with the wrath of an angry Sara. The two finished their meal and headed back to the lab.

* * *

"Have you seen Sara?" Grissom asked Nick when he got back to the lab. 

"I saw her leave with Greg a little while ago to grab some food. They should be back any time now," Nick replied.

"Alright, thanks Nick. I've got to leave to join Brass for an interrogation, when she gets back, tell her to give me a call."

"Will do."

Grissom left the trace lab, and Nick got back to work.

* * *

When the movie ended, Catherine looked across the couch and saw that Lindsey had fallen asleep. "Linds," Catherine spoke, shaking her shoulder. 

Lindsey opened her eyes and sat up. "What?"

"It's really late, you need to get to bed, you have school in the morning."

Lindsey got up from the couch and disappeared into her room. After cleaning up the living room, Catherine went to her bedroom to try and get some sleep. She turned her alarm clock on and settled under the covers. _I've got to make sure I wake up on time, I want to take her to school later._

* * *

When Greg and Sara got back to the lab, Sara headed toward Grissom's office, but Nick stopped her in the hallway before she could get to it. "Griss wants you to call him," Nick stated. 

"Where is he?" Sara asked.

"Interrogation with Brass."

"Thanks," Sara replied.

"When you're done with that, a B&E was just called in. You're the only one free right now, so it's all yours."

"Thanks Nick."

Nick continued down the hallway to the break room, and Sara walked into Grissom's office. She sat down on his couch and pulled her cell phone off of her belt. Sara speed dialed Grissom's cell phone and waited for him to pick up. When she was greeted by his voicemail, she was slightly disappointed. "Griss, Nick told me you wanted me to call you," Sara stated, "Greg and I finished our robbery, and a B&E just got called in, if you need to get a hold of me, call my cell."

Sara closed her cell phone and got up from the couch. _Well, I guess I have to get to that B&E. I wonder what Grissom wanted anyway? _Sara walked to the locker room to get Greg and leave for their scene.

* * *

When Grissom finished with the interrogation, he went back to his scene where Warrick was still processing. Before exiting the vehicle, he checked his cell phone to see if Sara had called while he was in the interrogation room. After listening to her message, he called her back. "Sidle," Sara answered. 

"Where are you right now?" Grissom asked.

"On the way to a B&E with Greg."

"How was your meal?"

"Alright."

"How do you feel?"

"Okay," Sara replied, "is there a reason you're checking up on me?"

"I'm just trying to make sure we don't have a repeat of yesterday."

Sara groaned. "I'm fine Griss, I'm just trying to do my job. You're just making me more antsy by calling me."

"As your supervisor I am just trying to make sure that you're okay to be on the job."

"Yeah right. I need to concentrate on my driving and get to my scene," Sara stated, closing her cell phone.

Sara clipped the phone back on her belt and continued driving. "Did you just hang up on him?" Greg asked.

"Yes," Sara stated, keeping her eyes on the road.

"He's not going to be very happy."

"If you start treating me differently or acting like I can't do my job, we are going to have a problem," Sara seethed, still staring straight ahead.

_Someone is hormonal. I'd rather be back in the lab right now then have to deal with this. _"Sara, I'm sure he's just worried about you."

"I am capable of doing my job!" Sara shouted.

"Sara, if you're going to start venting, do you think you might want to pull over?"

Sara veered over to the side of the road and slammed on the brakes. Greg's eyes widened at the sudden stop, and he was soon met by Sara's cold stare. "I am not weak, I don't need to be asked if I'm okay every five seconds!" Sara seethed.

"Did I ask you if you were okay?"

Sara's anger seemed to deflate somewhat, and she sank in her seat. She shifted the car back into drive and kept driving toward the crime scene. "Sara," Greg started.

"Don't talk Greg," Sara interrupted.

The two continued to their scene in an awkward silence. _What is going on with my body? That whole conversation was so stupid, these hormones are a pain in the ass. The good part of this whole ordeal better start soon._

When Sara pulled up to the scene, her cell phone rang again. "Greg, go talk to the officer," Sara instructed, pulling her cell phone off of her belt.

As soon as Greg exited the vehicle, Sara opened her cell phone. "Sidle," she answered.

"I think we got cut off before," Grissom stated.

_He's giving me a way out of this. _"Yeah, it must be the bad reception today," Sara played along.

"Sara, I'm not trying to coddle you."

"I know, it's just annoying to be constantly asked how I'm feeling."

"Well then, are you good to go?" Grissom joked.

"Griss, I'm not really in the mood."

"Okay. If you need anything, call. I'm going to get back to my scene."

"Okay."

Sara closed her cell phone and exited the vehicle to catch up with Greg. Grissom exited his vehicle to find out what Warrick had accomplished while he was gone. _Potential crisis averted. She's edgy, but that's Sara. I'll have to tone it down a little bit._

* * *

While processing the B&E scene, Greg was extremely silent. "Greg, you can talk about your findings, I'm not going to bite your head off," Sara stated. 

"You sure, because you certainly snapped before," Greg replied.

"I'm a hormonal pregnant woman," Sara joked, "sometimes I go a little too far."

Greg smiled but did not comment on her remark. "Is everything okay with Griss?"

"Yeah, he understands."

"Good," Greg replied, "you can use me to vent anytime if you need to."

Sara smiled and shook her head. "Let's get back to the evidence Greg," Sara stated, "what do you see?"

Greg started describing the scene, and the two began working once again.

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

"Lindsey, are you ready for school? We're going to end up late," Catherine shouted down the hallway.

After a few minutes, Lindsey's door opened, and she emerged slightly haggard looking. "Let's go mom," Lindsey stated, walking toward the door.

"Do you want some food to take with you? You have to be hungry," Catherine stated, taking in her appearance.

"I'll get something at school," Lindsey replied, opening the door, "come on, I'm going to be late."

Catherine followed Lindsey out the door and got into the car. Within a minute, they had started the drive to school.

* * *

When Grissom and Sara got home from work that morning, Sara attacked him right after they got inside of the house. She planted an urgent kiss on his lips and pressed her body to his. In a few seconds she had his jacket on the floor, and she was pulling at his shirt. "When you decide that you're ready, you really go for it," Grissom joked, taking the chance to press a few kisses to her neck. 

"And oh am I ready," Sara spoke, trying to undo the buttons of his shirt.

When Sara had all of the buttons unbuttoned, she pushed the shirt off of Grissom's shoulders, and Grissom let go of her for a second so he could shrug it off. As soon as the shirt was free, Grissom brought his arms back around Sara and started kissing her once again. Sara didn't waste any time and started pulling at his t-shirt. "Sara, do you think we can take this to the bedroom?" Grissom questioned, halting their progress for a moment.

Sara gave him a quick peck on the lips and dragged him toward the bedroom. Once inside, Sara stood with the backs of her legs against the foot of the bed, and Grissom stood in front of her. Sara quickly removed Grissom's t-shirt and ran her hands across his chest. "You are wearing way too much," Grissom spoke, fingering the bottom of her shirt.

He then brought his hands to her waist and sat her down on the bed. "First we're getting rid of these boots," Grissom stated, kneeling down to lower the zippers and take them off of her feet.

While Grissom was occupied with her feet, Sara ran her hands through his thick curls and leaned forward to kiss the top of his head. When Grissom was finished removing Sara's boots and socks, he took a quick second to remove his own shoes and socks. He then stood up and returned his hands to the hem of Sara's shirt. In a quick movement, Sara's shirt was discarded, and Grissom leaned her back on the bed. "Your pants madam," Grissom stated, tugging on the cuffs.

Sara undid the button and zipper, leaned up, and Grissom tugged her pants off. Sara shifted up on the bed so her legs were no longer hanging over the edge. After removing his belt, Grissom stripped off his own pants and threw them to the side. Seconds later he was leaning over Sara, kissing her again. "Turn over," Sara spoke in between kisses.

Grissom turned to his side and rolled over so Sara was resting against him. "You need to lose this," Grissom stated, reaching for the clasp of her bra.

"Then you need to lose these," Sara pulled at his boxers.

Grissom removed the last of Sara's clothes, and they lay before each other completely uncovered. Their conversation stopped, leaving their lips and hands to convey their emotions.

* * *

Catherine cooked spaghetti, and she and Lindsey shared it for dinner. "Mom, why didn't you and dad get along very well?" Lindsey asked, continuing to eat her dinner. 

Catherine was shocked by her daughter's abrupt question, and she had to take a moment to swallow her drink. "Your father had some problems Lindsey. He tried to drag me down with him, but some friends pulled me off of that road."

"He loved you."

"That may very well be true, but he loved his lifestyle more. Love can't solve everything, a lot of times it isn't enough."

"He cheated on you."

"Yes."

"You loved him."

Catherine took another sip of her drink to stall. "Yes."

"I miss him, a lot. Maybe the next time you try to talk about him, you can remember that you loved him, and I loved him too. You don't have to make him seem so evil all of the time."

Catherine didn't know how to respond to Lindsey's statement. "I need to go get ready for work," Catherine stated, getting up from the table, leaving an almost full plate of spaghetti behind.

Catherine fled the kitchen and went to her bedroom. Lindsey stayed at the table to finish her spaghetti. _It's always work._

* * *

Later that evening, everyone was in the break room, and they were waiting for Grissom to arrive. "How did things make out with Lindsey?" Warrick asked Catherine. 

"Alright I guess," Catherine stated, pushing their earlier conversation out of her mind, "she decided to do something to stand out again."

"What did she get into this time?"

"She had a friend sneak over in the middle of the night, and they got into my alcohol supply."

"Was she wasted?" Greg asked.

Catherine shot him a look but replied. "Hung over."

"Where is she now?" Warrick asked.

"My sister's. I told her she has to go back there every night until she gives me a reason to trust her again."

"Did you talk to her?"

"Yeah, I hope some of it actually lodged in her brain this time. I don't want to be dealing with this again in a few weeks."

When Grissom entered the room, their conversation ceased, and they received their assignments.

* * *

"Today is a very good day," Sara spoke, kissing Grissom's lips. 

Grissom and Sara were laying in bed, Grissom laying on his back, and Sara laying next to him on her side. "Hmm, let's see," Grissom teased, rubbing his hand across his beard.

Sara pulled away and poked his stomach. Grissom brought his hand down and rested it over her still practically flat stomach. "Would this have anything to do with it?" Grissom asked, running his fingers across her stomach.

"This is a really good thing Griss," Sara spoke, kissing his shoulder.

"Believe me, I know. Fourteen weeks down," Grissom replied, stilling his movements.

Sara smiled but did not reply. "You want to celebrate?" Grissom asked, cupping her cheek and kissing her.

"I thought you'd never ask," Sara replied, rolling so she was on top of him.

The two took their time to celebrate their pregnancy milestone.

* * *

By her twentieth week, Sara had started showing, and her clothes weren't fitting quite right. She knew she had to go shopping for maternity clothes because she was barely fitting into the pants that were big on her before, but she didn't feel like dealing with the crowds. _I can stall a few more days. Catherine will probably say something and make me go shopping anyway._

When Grissom and Sara were both ready to go to work, Grissom led her out the door and to the car. They held each other's hands on their way to work.

* * *

Sara was reaching for a cup in the break room when Catherine walked in. "Sara, you definitely need to go shopping," Catherine stated, noticing how tight her pants were when her shirt hiked up. 

Sara retrieved a cup and pulled her shirt back down. "I don't even see how you can walk around in those pants, they look so uncomfortable," Catherine continued while Sara filled the cup up with water.

"Thanks Cath, come straight out and tell me I'm fat," Sara joked, taking a sip of her water.

"Are you doing anything after shift?"

"No."

"Now you are. I'm taking you shopping, you can't walk around like that any longer."

"I knew you were going to say something."

"You've just been stalling. I promise, we won't stay out too long."

"Not longer than two hours Cath," Sara stated, "I need to get my sleep."

"Yeah, we don't need you any crankier than you already are," Catherine joked.

Sara tried to suppress her smile, but the corners of her mouth tilted up. "I'll drive," Catherine spoke, "I can drop you home afterward."

Sara nodded, and they ended their conversation when Nick and Warrick entered the room.

* * *

Halfway through the shift, Catherine went to Grissom's office. His head was leaning on his left hand, which was placed against his ear. His eyes were focused on the laptop in front of him. "Gil, I wrapped up the murder case I was working on. Has anything new come in yet?" Catherine asked. 

Grissom kept staring at the computer screen and occasionally hit the down arrow on the keyboard. "Grissom, is there anything new?" Catherine asked impatiently.

When Grissom still didn't look up, Catherine had had enough. She quickly walked forward and pushed his laptop closed. Grissom sat up straight again and looked at her in shock. "Where are you, a million miles away? Did you hear a word I said?" Catherine asked.

Their eyes met, and her words quickly developed further meaning. Although his face didn't change, Grissom's eyes portrayed guilt. "What is so important that you had to barge in here Cath? Not that you ever knock anyway," Grissom stated, annoyed by her actions.

Catherine walked behind Grissom's chair, and Grissom tried to turn around. Catherine kept her hands on the back of the chair so he couldn't move. "Are there any new cases?" Catherine asked, keeping him facing forward.

"No, but Nick could use some help at his scene," Grissom replied, not missing a beat.

"What does he have?" Catherine asked, still not fully convinced.

"A 419, weren't you at assignments? Maybe you're the one who needs to listen."

Catherine turned his chair around and stared at him. "I don't know what is going on with you," Catherine stated, "but something is not right. Get it figured out so Sara doesn't have to deal with your burden and the pregnancy."

Catherine marched out of Grissom's office before he could comment. Grissom reopened his laptop and stared at the screen once again. _I'm not a burden, am I?_

* * *

When Catherine took Sara shopping after shift, Catherine was more than her usual chatty self, almost too talkative. "Is something bothering you Cath?" Sara asked while they were walking between stores in the mall. 

Catherine didn't want to say anything, because she didn't want to worry Sara. "No, I'm just excited that I'm helping you to pick out some new clothes," Catherine stated.

Sara saw right through her lie. "Right Cath, believe me, I'm not excited at all. I just want to have something that I can fit into."

"Is Gil nervous about the baby?" Catherine asked.

"We both are. It's new territory for the two of us. As I get bigger, being parents gets closer and closer to reality. It's kind of daunting."

Catherine smiled. "You'll do fine, you can't do any worse than I did."

"Cath, you've done fine. Sure you've had some problems with Lindsey, but she's a good kid."

"Yeah, she just gets herself in some pretty big messes sometimes."

"You had an appointment this week, didn't you?"

"Yeah, it went well."

"Gil probably asks a lot of questions, doesn't he?"

"Yeah, but he's not hovering as much as he was. I'm still pretty light, but my doctor isn't as worried about me being underweight as she was before."

"For twenty weeks you are kind of small."

"My doctor assures me everything is fine. I've been putting on the pounds as instructed, that's what brought us here in the first place," Sara smiled.

"Have you felt the baby move yet?"

"No, but Grissom figured out that he could hear the baby's heartbeat, and he likes to press his head to my stomach to find it."

"Oh," Catherine uttered before she could stop herself.

Sara raised an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong with that?"

_Maybe I was just jumping to conclusions. _"No, nothing," Catherine replied.

They walked into another maternity store and headed to look for various clothes. Catherine was quickly back to normal once again, and they were picking out more clothes.

* * *

When Catherine dropped Sara off at home, Sara carried all of her purchases inside. She left the bags by the bedroom closet, undressed, and slid into bed next to Grissom. "Did you have a good time," Grissom asked, facing her. 

"Yes, wonderful," Sara said sarcastically.

Grissom smiled. "How many new things did you get?"

"Enough."

"Do you have to do any more shopping?"

"Not now. We'll have to do other baby shopping later, but I had enough for today."

Grissom turned onto his side and pulled Sara with him. Grissom and Sara lay on their left sides, Sara spooned into Grissom's chest. Grissom rested his hands on her stomach, and he kept drawing small circles across her skin. "Gil," Sara spoke, trying to get his attention.

Grissom kept drawing circles on her stomach. "Gil," Sara tried again when he didn't reply.

Grissom pulled her closer to him, but he did not speak. "Gil, I know you're awake. Why can't you talk to me?" Sara asked.

When Grissom still didn't reply, Sara pulled away from him and turned over to face him. "What did I do?" Grissom asked when he saw the frown on Sara's face.

"Answer my question," Sara instructed.

"What question?"

"Were you listening at all?" Sara snipped, slightly annoyed.

Grissom closed his eyes and tried to assess the situation. "I can't do this right now," Grissom stated, pulling away from her and swinging his legs off of the edge of the bed.

Grissom pulled a pair of sweatpants on and walked toward the door. "You can't do what?" Sara asked, concerned about the way he was acting.

Grissom didn't say anything, he just walked out the bedroom door and pulled it closed before he headed to the living room to sit down on the couch. Sara pulled a pillow to her chest and squeezed it with all of her might as a barrage of emotions ran through her. Sara curled into a ball but did not cry. _Did I do something wrong? What is bothering him so much that he won't speak to me? _Sara thought about her earlier confusing conversations with Catherine, and her mood shifted.Sara's sadness and uncertainty was quickly replaced by anger. She got out of bed, quickly pulled some of her new clothes on, slipped on a pair of shoes, and stormed out of the bedroom. She grabbed her keys from the table in the living room and walked toward the front door. "Sara, don't," Grissom stated, trying to get her to stay in the house.

Sara flipped around, and Grissom could tell how angry she was. "Apparently you can't do this. Do what, I don't have a clue. All I know is that you're keeping something from me, and I can't deal with that right now. You hid it from me before, and you're hiding it from me now. It was bad enough before, Gil, I can't deal with your avoidance again. Go ahead, live in silence."

Sara walked out the front door and slammed it behind her. Grissom dropped his head into his hands and sighed. _I don't need this. _Grissom got up from the couch and went to retrieve his bottle of scotch and a glass.

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

After driving for about half an hour, Sara found herself at Catherine's house. She walked up to the house, pressed the doorbell, and waited for someone to come to the door.

Catherine had been laying in bed when the doorbell rang. _I really could use some sleep right now, not a visitor. _Catherine got out of bed, put her robe on, and walked out to the door. What she saw when looking through the peephole shocked her. _Why are the price tags still on her clothes? _Sara's head was down, but she snapped it up when Catherine opened the door. "Sara, are you okay?" Catherine asked, Sara's exhaustion and hurt visible through her eyes.

"Did he tell you?" Sara spoke, her voice low and venomous.

"Did he tell me what?" Catherine replied, not having a clue as to what she was talking about.

Catherine opened the door wider to allow Sara to walk into the house. Sara entered the house and immediately started pacing. Catherine closed the door and leaned against it. "Did you know the whole time that we were out shopping?" Sara continued, still not making much sense.

Catherine thought back to their earlier conversation and realized what Sara was talking about. "Sara, what happened?" Catherine asked.

Sara continued to pace. "Did you know?" Sara repeated, raising her voice.

"I knew that something wasn't right."

Sara stopped pacing and glared at Catherine. "Why didn't you tell me?" Sara asked, her voice breaking.

"All I had was an isolated incident."

"I can't believe this. I have a husband that is practically lying to me and putting up walls as quickly as he can, and my friend saw that something was happening, and she couldn't say anything to me!" Sara shouted, storming back toward the door, "I can't go through this again!"

Catherine allowed Sara to get to the door and open it. "Sara, where are you going to go?" Catherine tried to reason with her, "You can't drive like this."

Sara walked out the door, leaving it open, and started walking down the stairs. After a few steps she grasped tightly to the railing and tried to hold herself up when she felt extremely dizzy. "Cath," she cried out, not wanting to fall and hurt the baby.

Catherine had seen what was happening, and she was at Sara's side in an instant. Sara had only made it down two steps, and it would be much easier and safer to just try and get her back into the house. "Can you make it back up the stairs?" Catherine asked, basically holding her up with the arm that was around her waist.

"Dizzy," Sara mumbled.

"We'll take it slow," Catherine stated, "let go of the railing, I've got you, you're not going to fall."

_I sure hope she doesn't fall. I've got to be careful so that if she loses her balance, I can hold her up and not fall with her. _Although it was difficult for Sara to make it back up the stairs, Catherine was able to get her back inside of the house without incident. "I need to lay down," Sara stated.

Catherine looked toward the couch, but then decided that the guest bed would be a lot more comfortable considering that Sara would probably be there for a while. "Hold on a little bit longer for me, Sara," Catherine stated, keeping her arm around her and leading her toward the guest bedroom.

Once inside of the bedroom, Catherine eased Sara onto the bed, and she immediately leaned back against the pillows. Catherine left momentarily to grab some extra pillows from the hall closet, and she used them to prop up Sara's legs. Catherine removed Sara's shoes and then sat on the edge of the bed. Sara had her eyes closed, and they were wet around the edges. "Does anything hurt?" Catherine asked, concerned that something other than dizziness might be wrong.

"Cath, he let me go, he didn't follow me," Sara replied, a tear finding its way down her cheek.

_Of course you're emotionally dying, but I need to know about physically first. _"Sara, the baby," Catherine stated, trying to redirect her attention, "does anything hurt?"

"No," Sara whispered, more tears starting to fall.

Catherine rubbed Sara's arm in reassurance, but Sara pulled away. "Cath, please don't," Sara spoke, trying to contain her tears, "it hurts too much."

Catherine knew Sara was referring to the emotional pain that she was enduring. "If you need anything give a yell," Catherine stated, getting up from the bed and trying to give Sara some space, "I'll be right in the living room."

Keeping her eyes closed, Sara nodded and listened as Catherine left the room. _How could he do this to me? After everything, how could he?_

* * *

Catherine walked into her bedroom and changed into a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt. She then headed out to the living room, sat on the couch, and picked her cell phone up off of the table. She speed dialed Grissom and waited for him to pick up. When all she got was voicemail, it just made her angrier. "Grissom, I have your wife at my house, and I've got to tell you, you're killing her. I don't know why the hell you're doing this, all I know is that you better figure this out quick." 

Satisfied that she had said some of the things that were on her mind, Catherine ended the call and tried calling his house. She still didn't receive an answer, so she left a short message telling Grissom to call. Catherine set her cell phone down on the table and leaned back into the couch. _This is such a mess, why didn't I notice this sooner? How did he answer my questions anyway?_

* * *

When Grissom heard his cell phone ring, he downed another glass of scotch and let the voicemail handle the call. A few minutes later he heard the house phone ring, and Grissom neglected to answer that also. _There is no way I'm talking to anyone right now. _Grissom continued to drink scotch from his position on the floor, leaning against the couch.

* * *

When Catherine went back to check on Sara an hour later, she appeared to be sleeping. Catherine started to close the door and head back to the living room when Sara spoke. "Cath, do you have a phonebook?" Sara asked, opening her eyes. 

"What on earth do you need a phonebook for?"

"I want to call Grissom's doctor."

"I'll be right back," Catherine stated.

Catherine walked out to the living room and retrieved the phonebook and the phone. Catherine brought them back to Sara, and she set them on the bed. Sara had sat up in the bed, and she was leaning against the headboard. "Just give me a few minutes Cath," Sara stated, "I'll come out when I'm done."

Catherine nodded and headed out to the kitchen to get some juice for the two of them. Catherine brought the glasses into the living room and waited for Sara to finish.

Once Sara found the doctor's phone number, she called and waited for the secretary to pick up. "I'd like to make an appointment for Gil Grissom," Sara spoke.

"What is your relationship to him?"

"I am his wife. I am calling because my husband had a stapedectomy a little over two years ago to correct his otosclerosis, but he is having problems hearing again. I would like to get an appointment relatively soon if possible."

There was a slight pause on the line while the secretary looked for openings on the computer. "There was a cancellation for two o'clock tomorrow afternoon. Is that okay?"

"Yes, that will be fine," Sara replied, "thank you."

Sara turned the phone off and held it in her hands. _He's going if I have to drag him myself. _Sara used her hands to push her self up on the bed, got up, and walked out to the living room. "How'd it go?" Catherine asked when Sara entered the living room.

Sara walked over to the couch and sat across from Catherine. "Tomorrow, two o'clock," Sara stated, picking up the glass of orange juice that was sitting on the table.

Sara took a drink of the juice and held it in her hands. "Thanks."

"Can I make you something to eat?"

"No, I'm about ready to fall asleep."

"If you want, you can go back to the guest room and lay down."

"I figured I should apologize for before," Sara stated, taking another drink to avoid eye contact with Catherine.

"That's not necessary," Catherine replied, "you want to tell me what happened?"

"I got home, we were laying in bed, I was facing away from him, and I called his name a few times. I asked him a question, turned over, and asked him to answer. When he didn't, he said he couldn't do 'this' right now, and he left the bedroom. I lay in bed for a few minutes and then realized what you had said earlier. I threw on some clothes, and after a few choice words, I stormed out of the house."

"Well, I noticed that," Catherine stated, leaning across the table to pull at the tag that was still hanging from her shirt, "do you think you might want to cut this off?"

Sara looked down at the shirt and laughed. Catherine walked to her desk, grabbed a pair of scissors, and sat back down on the couch. Sara took the scissors from her and cut off all of the offending tags. "I wasn't really thinking about my wardrobe," Sara stated.

"Well, at least your clothes fit now."

The two smiled. Sara finished drinking her orange juice and stood up. "If you don't mind, I'm going to go lay down for a while," Sara spoke.

"That's fine, I should probably go get some sleep too, I've got to go in for shift tonight."

"I'm going too."

"Is that such a good idea?"

"Physically, I feel a lot better than I did before. I can't just sit around, I need to do something. Gil's more comfortable at the lab anyway, he'll probably try to talk to me there."

"Alright, I'll get you up when my alarm goes off. Do you want something to sleep in?"

"Nah, I'll be fine," Sara stated.

Sara left the living room and headed into the guest bedroom. Catherine finished her orange juice and tried calling Grissom one more time. When she still didn't receive an answer, Catherine headed for bed. _He's probably just moping around trying to figure out where he went wrong. I'll deal with him later._

* * *


	11. Chapter 11

When Lindsey arrived home, she was surprised that the front door was locked. She looked back toward the driveway and reached into her backpack to pull out her key. _There are two cars in the driveway, I wonder what's going on inside that she has everything locked up? _Lindsey opened the door and walked into the house. When she didn't find her mother in the kitchen or the living room, Lindsey headed toward the bedrooms. Catherine's door was ajar, so Lindsey stuck her head in. "Mom," Lindsey spoke quietly, not wanting to startle her.

Catherine looked up and quickly sat up in bed. _I forgot about her, I can't believe I forgot. _"Sorry Linds, I've been kind of busy," Catherine stated before Lindsey could say anything else.

"That's okay," Lindsey replied, walking into the room to sit on the edge of the bed, "there's another car outside, do you have a guy stuffed in your closet?"

Catherine smiled and shook her head. "No Lindsey, Sara and I went shopping after shift."

"And her car is still outside because?"

"Because she is exhausted, and she's sleeping in the guestroom."

"Because?"

"Never you mind."

Lindsey rolled her eyes and got up off of the bed. "I'm going to watch TV."

"Try to keep it down. Make sure your homework gets done too."

"Yes mom," Lindsey droned, walking out of the room.

Catherine laid back down in the bed and once again tried to get to sleep.

* * *

When Sara woke up a few hours later, it took her a minute to realize why she wasn't in her own room, and why she was at Catherine's house. Deciding that she needed to talk to Grissom, she got out of bed and walked into the living room. Lindsey was sitting on the couch watching television. "Hi Lindsey," Sara spoke. 

"Hi," Lindsey replied, engulfed in a television program.

"I don't want to disturb your mom, so when she gets up, can you tell her that I left to go home?" Sara asked.

"Sure."

Sara let herself out of the house, got into her car, and started her drive home. _What am I going to say to him? How could he keep this from me?_

* * *

Sara arrived home, let herself into the house, and stood stark still when she noticed Grissom's motionless body on the floor. Walking closer, she took in the empty bottle of scotch and a glass with a small amount of the amber liquid still inside. Sara picked up the glass and the bottle so they wouldn't be knocked over, and she set them on the coffee table. Sara rested her hand on Grissom's shoulder and started to lightly shake him. "Gil, wake up," Sara stated while shaking him. 

After a short moment, Grissom started to stir, and he immediately placed a hand over his eyes. He groaned and brought his other hand up to his face. Sara reached for his wrist and tugged on it. "Come on Gil, you need to go lay down in bed, and I sure can't pull you up from the floor," Sara tried to get him up.

"I am plenty comfortable here," Grissom stated, his voice slurred.

"Yeah right. Get your butt up off of the floor and go lay down," Sara snipped, still bothered by their earlier dealings, "for the number of times you told me not to do this, you sure followed your own advice."

"I don't want to fight with you."

"Then just get up off of the floor."

When Grissom still didn't move, Sara held onto his hand and started to pull. Grissom snapped his head up and tried to get her to stop. "Sara, that's not good for you, stop," Grissom warned.

"You think all of this stress is good for me?" Sara shot back.

"I'll get up, just give me a minute," Grissom spoke, not responding to her comment.

Using the couch behind him for leverage, Grissom managed to get to his feet. He felt like he had a gallon of water swishing around in his head, and his coordination and balance were obviously absent. "Come on," Sara stated, taking his arm, "you're going to lay down."

Grissom allowed Sara to lead him to their bedroom.

* * *

When Grissom laid down on the bed, he immediately turned away from Sara. "I'm going to go lay down in the guestroom," Sara stated, turning to leave the bedroom. 

"Ummhmm," Grissom mumbled, allowing her to leave.

Sara walked out of the bedroom and into the guestroom. She got undressed and slipped under the covers. _I can't believe this, he got himself drunk. That's going to make everything so much more awkward when we get around to talking._

* * *

Once the blaring of her alarm clock sounded, Catherine got out of bed. She took a shower, got dressed, and then went to wake up Sara. Catherine opened the guestroom and frowned. _Where is she? _Catherine walked out into the living room and found Lindsey still sitting in front of the television. "Lindsey, where's Sara?" Catherine asked. 

"She went home. She said she didn't want to wake you," Lindsey relayed the message.

_Well, at least they're near each other. _"Go get your stuff ready to go to your aunt's," Catherine instructed, turning the television off.

Lindsey got up from the couch and walked into her room. Catherine ventured out to the kitchen, picked up the portable phone, and dialed Sara's cell phone number. Not receiving an answer, she dialed Sara's home phone number and got the same result. _Oh well, I'll just talk to her at work._

* * *

"Where's Grissom?" Nick asked Warrick after they had been waiting in the break room for a while. 

"I have no idea," Warrick replied, "but Sara's not here either, and Catherine is elsewhere."

"I hope everything is alright," Nick spoke, thinking about the baby.

"There's probably a reasonable explanation for all of this," Greg stated, adding his own interpretation.

* * *

Catherine breathed a sigh of relief when Sara finally picked up her house phone. "Sara, what's going on?" Catherine asked, "Shift started about fifteen minutes ago." 

Sara looked at her watch and realized that Catherine's statement was indeed true. "Cath, I'm sorry I didn't call you earlier, but Griss and I can't come in tonight," Sara explained.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine, but we can't come in," Sara stated, not wanting to get into the real reason they wouldn't be going in.

"Can I talk to Gil?"

"Now is not a good time Cath. You woke me up, I'm sure he's still sleeping."

_Something odd is going on over there. _"Alright Sara, call if you need anything," Catherine stated, giving up on getting any more information out of her.

"Okay."

Sara returned the phone to the cradle and went to clean up the living room. When she was finished cleaning, she sat down on the couch. _Now to wait for him to get up so we can talk._

* * *

Catherine entered the break room, assignment slips in hand. "Where are Grissom and Sara?" Nick asked Catherine. 

"Home, they're both taking tonight off."

"Is everything okay?" Nick asked, the other two men thinking the same thing.

"It will be," Catherine answered cryptically, looking away and thumbing through the assignment slips, "we need to get to work."

They accepted their assignments and went off to their separate scenes.

* * *

When Grissom woke up around midnight, he had a killer headache, and he found that all of the offending thoughts were still on his mind. _Sara is going to shoot me. Why did I do this anyway? _Resigning to the fact that he was going to have to face her sometime, Grissom got out of bed to head to the bathroom to retrieve some acetominiphin and clean himself up. 

After washing up so he felt more human, Grissom realized that it was almost midnight. _Dammit, now work is involved in this too. Someone has to be wondering where we are. _Grissom poked his head into the guestroom and found that Sara wasn't there. _Maybe she went into work. _Grissom walked into the bedroom, picked up his cell phone, and speed dialed Catherine. "Willows," Catherine answered.

"Catherine, did Sara go in?" Grissom asked.

"No, she called in saying that the two of you were staying at home," Catherine stated, "you haven't talked to her yet, have you?"

_I came to a stupid conclusion, just because she wasn't in the guestroom doesn't mean she's not in the house. _"She went to your house, didn't she?"

"I'll let you talk to her about that. I will warn you though, she's going to chew you a new one, and I can't say that I blame her."

"Catherine, you don't even know what's going on. Try to stay out of my business for once."

"You're welcome for covering shift for you."

Catherine could hear grumbling on the other end of the phone before Grissom terminated their conversation. _I said my piece, now they have to figure it out with each other. I hope Grissom doesn't make another serious mistake._

* * *

After ending his phone call to Catherine, Grissom walked out to the living room and found Sara sleeping on the couch. He sat on the coffee table and ran his fingers through Sara's hair. Sara stirred and looked up at him. "Hey," Sara spoke, her voice still tinged with sleep. 

"What did I say about sleeping on the couch?" Grissom scolded.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm up now," Sara stated, brushing him off and sitting up.

Grissom and Sara sat in silence, occasionally glimpsing at each other, until Sara inched closer to him and brought her right hand up to his face. She slid her hand back over his ear and rubbed her thumb against his beard. "Can you hear me?" Sara asked, her voice full of concern.

"Not well," Grissom admitted, staring at the floor.

Sara switched hands, bringing her left hand up to his face and covering his ear. "How about now?"

"Much better."

_That confirms that theory. Now that I think about it, he didn't answer me when his left ear was covered, and he did answer me otherwise. _"I called and made an appointment for you," Sara stated, dropping her hand from his face and clasping his hands in hers.

"When?" Grissom asked, still not looking up.

"Friday, two o'clock."

"Sara, we need to talk," Grissom stated, his mind clearly focused on other thoughts.

"Yes, you're right, we need to talk about a lot of things," Sara replied.

Grissom took his hands from Sara's and looked into her eyes. "You did the one thing I was always afraid of, the one thing you said you would never do," Grissom spoke, his voice practically a whisper.

"What?"

"You left."

"Gil, I'm not going to leave you," Sara tried to reassure him, "we both did things we probably shouldn't have, but I'm here."

"If things ever get bad, what are you going to do, walk out the door?"

"Gil, that's not fair."

"You always have the courage to say something," Grissom explained, "but you never have the patience to stay around and wait for an answer."

"How long have you known?"

"I didn't really notice that much, not until both Catherine and you said something in the same day."

"Did you say anything to her?"

"No."

"Were you going to say anything to me?"

"Of course."

"When?"

Grissom stayed silent, contemplating what he could tell her that wouldn't start another argument. "I don't know Sara. We have so many things to think about right now, and I didn't want to worry you unnecessarily."

"Gil, I'm worried anyway!"

Grissom got up from the table and slid onto the couch next to Sara. He wrapped an arm around her shoulder and tried to get her to lay down. "What?" Sara asked, attempting to figure out what he was doing.

"Come on, get comfortable, lay down," Grissom instructed.

Sara slid down on the couch and brought her head into his lap. Grissom took the opportunity to run his fingers through her hair and play with the strands. "I need to tell you about what the doctor is going to say," Grissom stated.

"How do you know already?" Sara questioned.

"Sara, I already had surgery, the doctor really isn't going to be able to do very much to help me."

Sara slightly stiffened when thinking about the news, but then found herself preoccupied with tracing circles on his knee. "There isn't anything that can be done?"

"There is one thing that will be effective for a while, but there isn't a way to tell how long it will work."

"What is it?"

"A hearing aid."

"At least you'd be able to hear."

"Yeah," Grissom agreed, his voice trailing off.

Sara brought her hand to her stomach when she felt something odd. "What is it?" Grissom asked, bringing his hand down to her stomach to cover hers.

"I think I felt the baby move."

"Was that the first time?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Grissom kept his hand over hers and kissed her hair. "Griss, since we're not going into work," Sara stated, "I think I'm going to go lay down for a while, I really haven't gotten much sleep."

"Sure, in our bedroom," Grissom emphasized, "I'll join you."

"We're not through talking," Sara pointed out, sitting up on the couch.

"Talking can wait until later though."

Sara nodded and allowed Grissom to lead her to bed. _Things are looking better, for now anyway._

* * *


	12. Chapter 12

When Grissom woke up, Sara was curled into his chest, her soft even breaths telling him that she was still asleep. He carefully pulled away from her and quietly walked toward the door. Standing in the doorway, Grissom turned around to make sure she was still sleeping. Confident that he had successfully crept out of the room, Grissom headed for the kitchen.

Navigating through the cabinets, Grissom gathered the ingredients to make pancakes. _I can cook her breakfast, that will make her happy. She'll probably see right through it and say she still doesn't forgive me, but I don't blame her. She needs food anyway. _After carefully measuring all of the ingredients into the bowl and mixing them together, Grissom heated up a pan on the stove and started cooking the pancakes.

Pleased that he had cooked the pancakes the way that Sara liked them, Grissom piled a few pancakes onto a plate and added some raspberry jelly to the top. He poured a glass of orange juice and carried the glass and the plate of pancakes into the bedroom.

Grissom set the plate and glass on the side table and softly walked back out to the kitchen to retrieve his breakfast. He returned to the bedroom, set his own plate and glass on his side table, and slid into the bed next to Sara. With his weight shifting onto the bed, Sara stirred and turned over. "Don't leave Griss," Sara mumbled, obviously still within some cloud of sleep.

Grissom slid down in the bed so he could be closer to Sara's stomach. He carefully rested his head against it and strained to detect any sounds of the baby's heartbeat.

After a minute he heard it and relaxed. _It's strange how seemingly odd things can be comforting. _Grissom was distracted from his listening when Sara ran a hand through his hair. "It's amazing, isn't it?" Sara stated, her voice scratchy and tinged with sleep.

Grissom chose not to answer her, and he just pressed a light kiss to her stomach before sliding back up to the head of the bed. "I made breakfast," Grissom gestured to the plate on the side table.

Sara sat up in bed and reached for the plate. She rested it near the bottom of her ribcage and took a bite of one of the pancakes. "These are good Gil," Sara complimented after swallowing the bite.

"They are the ones that you like," Grissom answered, taking a bite of his own pancake.

They sat quietly eating their pancakes, savoring the sweetness of the raspberry jelly mixed with the texture of the fluffy pancakes. When Sara finished, she set her plate back on the side table and settled her hands across her stomach. Grissom set his plate on the side table and slid over next to Sara. She wrapped her arm around his waist and rested her head against his shoulder. "Sara, I know what I did was stupid," Grissom stated, admitting his error.

"I can honestly say I don't understand how you wouldn't notice that your hearing was giving you problems, but I realize that me screaming at you probably wasn't the best way to handle the situation," Sara answered, revealing her own faults.

"That wasn't what I was referring to," Grissom spoke, rubbing his hand up and down her back.

Sara stayed silent and waited for Grissom to elaborate. "I recall having a discussion with you about drinking for the wrong reasons," Grissom stated after a minute of contemplation.

"People who drink to drown their sorrow should be told that sorrow knows how to swim," Sara recalled, "Ann Landers."

"Yeah. Believe me, I didn't feel any better when I woke up before, and I think I probably felt worse. I definitely shouldn't have even started," Grissom admitted.

"Gil, the last time this happened, you were alone. You're not alone anymore," Sara spoke, looking into his eyes to get her point across, "even if you lose your hearing, you are not going to lose me."

Sara brought her other arm around Grissom's stomach and hugged him tightly as if to prove that she wasn't going anywhere. Grissom kissed the top of her head and ran a hand down her side. _It's not that simple, there are so many problems that could result from my hearing loss. _Sara lifted her head up from Grissom's chest and realized that he was entranced by something on the opposite wall. "Gil, what's going through your mind?" Sara asked, reaching up to trail her fingers across his cheek.

"You know, it's quite ironic," Grissom said cryptically, still staring off into space.

"What's ironic?"

"Last time I went to Catherine, and this time you went to Catherine."

Sara dropped her hand from his cheek and rested her head on his shoulder. "How did you know that?"

"I called her before when I woke up. When I didn't find you in the guestroom, I thought you had gone into work."

"Oh," Sara stated, "what did she tell you?"

"That if I wanted to know anything, you would have to tell me," Grissom replied, "why did you go over there anyway?"

"Initially? I was angry," Sara explained, "Catherine had said something odd while we were out shopping, and after our incident at home, I thought that you had confided in her about your hearing before you told me."

"Sara, I wouldn't have done that," Grissom reassured, taking her hand in his.

"I wasn't exactly acting rationally at that moment. I guess my underlying motivation for going over there was so I would have someone to talk to. I wouldn't exactly feel comfortable talking about this with one of the guys. I didn't feel like I could face you at that time. It hurt that you were keeping something from me."

"Sara," Grissom started, but Sara cut him off.

"Griss, you already gave an explanation, we're not going into that again."

"You don't believe me," Grissom realized, pulling away from her.

"Gil, I," Sara spoke, but Grissom interrupted.

"Stay where you are," Grissom instructed, "I'll be right back."

Grissom slid off of the bed and padded out into the living room. Sara took the chance to sit up in bed and dangle her feet over the edge. She propped two pillows up against the headboard and leaned into them with her left side. Grissom reentered the room a minute later and walked around the bed to sit next to her. "When you get a chance, I want you to take a look at this," Grissom stated, handing Sara a half inch binder.

"What's in it?" Sara asked, taking the binder from him.

"A lot of information about otosclerosis. It might help you to understand things more," Grissom explained.

Sara set the binder on a lower level of the side table and rested back against the pillows. "Gil, you had to have noticed that something wasn't right," Sara's thoughts drifted again, "why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Like I told you before, this is pretty much the end of the line. The more time that passes, the worse my hearing is going to get. A hearing aid will only work so long," Grissom spoke, a defeated tone in his voice.

Sara pushed away from the headboard and grasped Grissom's shoulder. "Gil, look at me," Sara demanded.

Grissom turned his head and saw his pain reflected in Sara's eyes. "Since when have you given up without a fight?" Sara asked, her eyes flashing.

Grissom reached out for her left shoulder and turned her toward him. "Sara, I've been trying to explain the facts to you," Grissom stated, looking into her eyes, "this can't be fixed this time, my options have run out."

Sara turned her head away and fought to contain her emotions. Grissom ran his hand up and down her back and pulled her to his chest. "I didn't think it had gotten this bad," Grissom spoke, his voice near a whisper, "I wasn't going to worry you over nothing."

"Gil, your hearing is something," Sara argued, her voice also very soft.

"I don't want to waste time on something I can't change. Right now the most important things are you and the baby," Grissom detailed, resting his hand on her protruding stomach.

"I can't just blow this off like you did," Sara stressed, "it feels like you're backing down without a fight."

"Sara, there isn't anything to fight, I've told you…" Grissom was about to continue, but Sara cut him off.

"Gil, I'll read the binder, maybe then I'll see what you're talking about. I don't have the energy to fight about this anymore," Sara resigned.

Grissom kissed the top of her head and held her for a bit longer. "How do you feel?" Grissom asked after their period of silence.

"Do you really want to know?" Sara mumbled.

"Sara," Grissom said with a warning tone.

"I'm fine Griss," Sara hedged, "I think I'm just going to lay down for a while."

"Sara, I'd like to know if you don't feel okay," Grissom insisted.

_You want to know, but you can't let me know. Having argumentative thoughts isn't going to get me anywhere. _Sara pulled away from Grissom so she could make eye contact with him. "I'm just tired and stressed, nothing new," Sara joked, "just let me lay down for a little while."

"Can I get you anything?" Grissom pushed.

"Griss, I just need to lay down," Sara overemphasized, "I need some time to decompress."

"Oh," Grissom stated, his voice trailing off.

Grissom took his arms off of Sara and placed them on his knees. "I'll be in the living room," Grissom stuttered, "if you need anything just…just call or something."

Grissom slowly got up from the bed and started to walk toward the door. "Griss," Sara called, causing him to turn around.

Sara put her hands behind her as if to push off of the bed, but Grissom's voice stopped her. "Stay there Sara," Grissom stated, walking back to her, "what is it?"

Sara tugged on his hand and got him to lean down to eye level. "What?" Grissom asked, his vivid blue eyes connecting with her chocolate brown ones.

Sara reached a hand up to cup his cheek, and she kissed the opposite one. She smiled against his skin and pulled away. "I'd give you a proper kiss, but my breath is probably a disaster," Sara provided.

Grissom returned the smile and stepped forward to kiss the top of her head. "Get some rest," Grissom instructed, squeezing her shoulders.

After retrieving their breakfast plates, Grissom turned around and walked out of the bedroom, leaving the door open a crack. Sara slid back under the covers and turned on the bedside light so the room would be slightly brighter. She grabbed the binder and got comfortable in bed. Turning to the first page, she started reading. _Otoclerosis, What is it and How Can it be Treated?_

* * *


	13. Chapter 13

Deciding that he should probably wake Sara up to get ready for work, Grissom walked into the bedroom. As he approached the bed, he noticed that Sara had set the binder on the side table. _She must have been reading, I wonder how far she got._ Although he hated to have to wake her up, Grissom brought a hand to Sara's cheek and lightly caressed it. "Sara honey, time to wake up," Grissom spoke.

"Can I say five more minutes?" Sara grumbled, not making any attempt to move.

"It's already late, you're going to want to get up," Grissom stated, sliding his hand up to run his fingers through her hair.

"Can you make a sandwich that I can take into work?" Sara asked, opening her eyes.

"Sure."

"I'm going to go shower, I'll be out in a little while," Sara informed him, closing her eyes once again.

When Sara still didn't move, Grissom ruffled her hair. "Do you want help getting up? If I just leave you, you're going to fall asleep again."

Sara scowled and pulled the covers back. "I'm going, I'll be out soon," Sara stated, trying to get Grissom to leave her alone.

Grissom nodded slightly and walked out of the room. Sara rubbed a hand across her face to try and wake herself up. She slid close to the edge of the bed and pushed herself upright with her hands. Sara then slowly got up from the bed and headed toward the bathroom. _I can't believe I'm still tired. I better perk up before I get to work, I need to be alert when Catherine decides to ambush me._

* * *

"Sara, where were you yesterday?" Nick asked, walking into the locker room right after Sara entered. 

Sara turned around and gave Nick a forced smile. "I needed a day off," Sara replied.

"Griss too?"

"Yes, him too."

"You see, I would believe you, but you don't play hooky, and that smile doesn't quite reach your eyes. Is everything okay?" Nick asked with brotherly concern.

"Yeah," Sara spoke, turning back toward her locker.

"Sara, how long have we known each other?" Nick asked, not moving any closer toward her.

"A while. What's your point Nick?" Sara asked, taking her coat off to put it in her locker.

"Your façade might work on someone else, but it's not working on me," Nick informed her.

Sara put her coat in her locker, closed the door, and turned around. "Nick, you can't help with this," Sara spoke, starting to walk toward the door.

_No one can. _Before Sara could get to the door, Nick grabbed her hand. "If you need to talk, I'm open twenty-four seven," Nick assured, squeezing her hand.

Sara turned and managed to give Nick a small smile. "I'll let you know," Sara stated, pulling her hand from his.

Nick watched Sara exit the room and walk down the hallway toward the break room. _What is going on with her? She seems so sad, I hope everything is going okay with the baby._

* * *

Grissom was sitting in his office when Catherine walked in the door. She shut the door behind her and sat across from his desk. "How is she?" Catherine prompted. 

Grissom took off his glasses and set them down on his desk. "Sara's alright Cath, why wouldn't she be?" Grissom replied.

Catherine stared at Grissom and shook her head. "Where would you like me to start the list?"

"Catherine, this doesn't concern you. Please, don't meddle, let Sara and I figure this out on our own," Grissom spoke, ineffectively blowing her off.

"Grissom, before she left my house, she was adamant about coming into work last night. I got into work last night, and neither one of you were here. I called your cell phones and your home phone a couple of times before Sara finally picked up. She said the two of you couldn't come into work. What went on to cause such a change?"

_Well, I was drunk, but I'm sure as hell not going to tell you that. You'd have a field day. _"Catherine, thank you for covering for us last night. We had a lot to discuss, and we didn't think coming into work would be a good idea. Frankly, the rest is personal, and I'm not telling you any more."

"You didn't even know that Sara had told me that you weren't coming in. You thought that she had gone into work. Tell me, was there something wrong with your phone that morning? I called your home phone and cell phone countless times to see what was going on with you, but you know what? No one picked up."

"I never heard the phone ring," Grissom lied, instantly regretting his choice of words.

Catherine's anger lessened when she realized how she could get through to him. _He even opened the door. _"What are you doing about that anyway?" Catherine asked, a sly look adorning her face.

"I'm going to the doctor tomorrow afternoon."

"I know that, Sara called the appointment in from my house. You must have some idea of the treatment options, you always research everything and know the facts."

"That's true, I know a lot about my condition, but I'm not going to do a self-diagnosis."

"Did you tell Sara about said knowledge?"

"Cath, I'm not incompetent. She asked a lot of questions, so I gave her a binder that I had compiled the last time."

"You're going to let her find out everything on her own," Catherine stated plainly.

"I've told her a lot," Grissom spoke, "I gave her the binder so she would have a chance to look at all of the medical terminology and specific details."

Catherine rested her chin on her hands and made eye contact with Grissom. "Gil, I'm not quite sure you understand how much this is affecting Sara. She is carrying your child, and I can tell you first hand that being pregnant and having a whole lot of stress do not mix. She nearly dropped she was so worked up about…"

Grissom cut Catherine off when he caught what she said. "She what?" Grissom asked, quite shocked.

"She didn't tell you about that either? Doesn't surprise me. The two of you have some major communication issues," Catherine stressed, "I know your first reaction is to go badger her about not telling you, but keep in mind that you too held some things back. She needs support right now, and this whole thing with you is bothering her more than she is letting on."

Grissom let the air within his lungs slowly escape through his mouth. _There is so much going on right now, I'm not sure I can process all of this, and as usual, I think I might be missing something. Emotional expert, I am not, but I am not as naïve as she is insinuating. _"Dr. Willows, what do you suggest?" Grissom asked, all signs of teasing absent from his voice.

Catherine smiled and shook her head. _At least he's not really angry, I thought I was going to be dealing with a lot of resistance. _"Take her out on Saturday, do something special together. Give her some distraction. Reality won't disappear, but some relaxation will help make everything seem a little bit more manageable."

Grissom picked up the assignment slips off of his desk and then looked back toward Catherine. "Cath, I," Grissom started, but his voice drifted off while he tried to form the desired sentence.

"Hey, no thanks or apology necessary. You've always been thickheaded and people challenged, and you always will be. I'm just here to wake you up once in a while, and I do stress once in a while. If this becomes a regular issue, I'm going to kick your ass myself."

"Let's get to the break room," Grissom stated, standing up and effectively ending their conversation.

Catherine walked out the door ahead of Grissom, and Grissom pulled the door closed behind him. The two friends were once again on the same page.

* * *

"Catherine, you and Warrick have a 419," Grissom spoke, handing out assignments, "Sara, take Greg with you, you have a B&E. Nick, you're going to a suspicious circs, give me a call if it turns out to be something. For now, I'm going to start working on paperwork because it's getting close to the end of the month, and it needs to be done. However, if something gets called in, or if any of you need anything, I'm out of here." 

"Don't sound so eager," Catherine droned.

Grissom ignored her statement and continued. "That's all, you can go to your scenes," Grissom stated.

Everyone got up and started to drift out of the room. Sara would have been last to leave the room, but Grissom stopped her. "Let's talk for a minute Sara," Grissom spoke.

Sara turned to Greg who had just walked out the door. "Greg, go ahead, I'll meet you outside," Sara directed.

Sara turned back to Grissom and gave him a soft smile. "What's going on?" Sara asked.

"I put a few sandwiches in the break room refrigerator for you," Grissom stated, not referring to what was really on his mind.

"Is that code for I'm worried about you?" Sara questioned.

The corner of Grissom's mouth twitched, and his gaze drifted away from her face. "I know this can't be easy for you," Grissom lowered his voice, his hand hovering above her stomach and dropping, "if you need anything…"

Grissom's voice trailed off, not really knowing what to say to her. Sara looked at Grissom just as his eyes returned to her. "Griss, I'm fine," Sara smiled, trying to reassure him, "if you have something on your mind, we can talk later. You have paperwork to do."

Grissom returned her smile and realized that she was right, on two counts. "Alright, I'll see you later."

Sara took a few steps out the door and turned around when a thought ran through her mind. "Oh, Griss," Sara called.

"What?"

"Politely thank Catherine for her two cents," Sara stated, walking down the hallway away from the break room.

Grissom shook his head and headed to his office. _She looks tired, but I'll keep my mouth shut. She can't be feeling too poorly if she's teasing me, she can rest later when we get home._

* * *

"Did you get a good look at Sara?" Warrick asked Catherine on their way to the scene, "She looks exhausted to say the least." 

"She's pregnant," Catherine explained, "you lose a little sleep, and it catches up with you really quickly."

"Do you think that's all? I find it slightly suspicious that the two people who only miss work when they absolutely have to didn't show up on the same day."

"Warrick, if you have a question, take it up with her. As far as I know, she's fine."

Deciding that Catherine knew more than she was letting on, but knowing that she wasn't going to tell him, Warrick turned his attention back to the atmosphere outside of his window.

* * *

"How was your night of hooky?" Greg asked jokingly while Sara drove them toward their scene. 

_Oh how I wish I was playing hooky. _"Just fine Greg, it's amusing to break the rules once in a while," Sara played along.

Greg took the hint and changed the subject. "How's the little one doing?" Greg questioned.

Sara instinctively brought her hand down to her stomach and rested it there. "Just fine. It's getting bigger all of the time."

"Sara, I don't know what you're thinking, but you are in no way big. That stomach of yours is on the small side for how many weeks pregnant you are."

"Thanks Greg, have you been checking me out?" Sara teased.

"No, I'm just checking up on how you're doing."

"Oh, you want to be another keeper?" Sara raised her eyebrow, "Well, if you'd like to know, my doctor says everything is progressing just fine. I have another appointment in four weeks."

"Did you start thinking of names yet?"

"No Greg, we have plenty of time to think about that yet. And no, the baby will not be named after you, so don't even start."

"Shucks," Greg uttered, grinning.

Sara pulled up to the scene and parked the car. "We've got a scene to process, let's talk to the homeowners before we go inside."

Greg nodded in affirmation and the two exited the vehicle.

* * *

Brass met Sara and Greg at the crime scene tape before they could duck under. "Mr. and Mrs. Bennington are claiming that someone broke into their dog house and stole their two prize poodles. I'll let you talk to them to get the rest of the story," Brass stated. 

"Brass, why are you at a dognapping?" Sara asked, a slight smile on her face.

"It was originally called in as a kidnapping. After I called into the station, they changed it to a B&E," Brass informed.

Sara nodded. "You're going to want to get out of here as soon as possible and find something more exciting."

"Treat all crimes equally," Brass parroted his training.

"Right," Sara drew out, "you weren't the first here, were you?"

"No. The first officer that responded is over there," Brass pointed toward the house, "he's waiting for the two of you to start processing."

"Well, you can join us for our quick chat with the Benningtons."

Brass gave a slight nod of his head and lifted the crime scene tape up for Sara and Greg to duck under.

* * *

"Mr. and Mrs. Bennington, meet Sara Sidle and Greg Sanders, Las Vegas Crime Lab," Brass gestured to the two of them at his left, "they'd like to ask you a few questions." 

"Oh dear, how far along are you?" Mrs. Bennington spoke in an overly kind, caring voice while reaching out to touch Sara's stomach.

When Mrs. Bennington's hand connected with Sara's stomach, Sara took a giant step back. "Dear, being pregnant is nothing to be ashamed of, it's a beautiful thing for a woman," Mrs. Bennington continued.

Brass knew he had to enter into the conversation before Sara ran in the opposite direction. "Mr. and Mrs. Bennington, we were called here about your dogs," Brass redirected the conversation, "could you tell us when you last saw them?"

"I checked on Claire and Harvey in their house last night before I went to bed. Everything seemed fine then. I went to visit them this morning, and they were gone. Someone kidnapped my children!"

_That explains the call. _"Were the dogs chained or tied to the doghouse? Could they have gotten loose from their collars?" Sara asked, resuming her position next to Brass.

"Ms. Sidle, I don't think you understand," Mr. Bennington stated, a superior air about him, "Claire and Harvey live in a house. We wouldn't think of doing anything demeaning such as tying them up. Someone would have had to break into the house and seize them from within."

_Great, we're dealing with people who have too much money and don't know what to do with it. _"Was there anything missing from the house?" Sara questioned.

"Ms. Sidle, you're not too quick, are you?" Mr. Bennington snubbed, "Claire and Harvey are both missing. Instead of wasting our time and diminishing the chance of finding them, why don't you and your cohort go start processing the scene?"

Before Sara could respond, Brass stepped in. "Mr. Bennington, a few questions needed to be asked in order to be acquainted with your complaint," Brass spoke and turned to Sara, "the house is around back, just follow the path."

Sara nodded and motioned for Greg to follow her. When they were out of earshot, Greg spoke. "How are you dear?" Greg joked.

"Do you want to die?" Sara warned.

Greg chuckled and kept walking. "Could you have stepped any further back?"

"Some women might like people's hands all over them, however, I am not one of them. Give me my personal space."

Greg took a step away from Sara, causing her to shake her head. "There's only one way in, so we need to process the entranceway first," Sara stated.

"Yeah, then we'll do the house," Greg peered through the small window in the door.

"I'll take the door," Sara explained, "you take the perimeter."

Greg nodded and went off to his task.

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

"Greg, did you find anything?" Sara asked when Greg stood in front of the doorway.

"A bunch of pawprints all over the place. Most of them trail away from the house," Greg replied.

"I've got scratch marks on the inside trim. There's also a lot of what appears to be canine saliva."

"Any prints?"

"Some. They're on all of the door handles and a few on the doors themselves. Many of them on the insides of both doors are smudged with pawprints," Sara stated and stood up to face Greg, "watch this."

Sara used her foot to push the door closed and stepped away, watching the door open slightly again. She repeated the action with the same result and then opened the door again so she could talk to Greg through the screen door. "No matter what you do to that inside door, it doesn't close correctly," Sara explained, "and this screen door just pushes open from the inside."

"I don't think we have a dognapping here," Greg hypothesized, "I think Mr. and Mrs. Bennington should have spent some more money on their locks."

Sara's cell phone rang, and she pulled it off of her belt. "Sidle," she answered.

"The two of you are going to want to come back out front, a neighbor just brought over the poodles," the officer stated, "she says that they were over at her house scratching and trying to get in."

"Alright, we'll be right there," Sara replied.

Greg looked at Sara with a questioning eye as she clipped her cell phone back onto her belt. "They have the children out front," Sara retorted.

"And our theory is proven," Greg smiled.

"Not quite yet, we've got to ask a few questions," Sara reminded.

Greg made a drawn out nod, picked up his kit, and turned to walk back to the front of the house. Sara grabbed her own kit, walked out the door, and stepped in beside him.

* * *

"How could you kidnap our children?" Mrs. Bennington accused. 

"You think I stole those beasts?" her neighbor wailed, "They got loose again, and they were scratching at my back door. You should take better care of them and make sure they stay in your yard."

"How dare you accuse me of not taking care of my children!" Mrs. Bennington shrieked.

"Are you delusional? They are dogs!" the neighbor retaliated.

"Don't speak to my wife like that," Mr. Bennington stepped in.

"Oh, is that your duty?" the neighbor spat.

Before the argument could escalate any further, the officer stepped in. "Ms. Andrews, the crime lab is going to want to talk to you," he gestured to Greg and Sara who were walking toward them, "please come with me."

"Gladly," Ms. Andrews replied.

The officer led Ms. Andrews away from the Benningtons and waited for Greg and Sara to get to them. "Ms. Andrews, Sara Sidle, Greg Sanders, Las Vegas Crime Lab," the officer gestured.

"Can we get one thing straight?" Ms. Andrews spoke, agitation evident in her voice, "I did not steal their damn dogs!"

"Would you mind if we took your fingerprints to rule you out as a suspect?" Sara asked.

Ms. Andrews outstretched her hands and wiggled her fingers. "Print away. Those dogs have been over at my house barking up a storm at least three times this week," Ms. Andrews explained, "is there anything I can do about that?"

"Next time it happens call the dogcatcher, he'll take care of it," the officer spoke.

"At four o'clock in the morning?" Ms. Andrews raised a questioning eyebrow.

"This is Vegas, if you call, he'll come," the officer replied.

"Greg, take Ms. Andrews' fingerprints," Sara instructed, "I'll go take care of the Benningtons."

Greg nodded and watched as Sara walked away. "Mr. and Mrs. Bennington, I need to take your fingerprints," Sara explained.

"If that stuff gets on your clothes, it doesn't come out," Mrs. Bennington complained.

"I'm putting it on your fingers, not on your clothes," Sara clarified, getting fed up with the whole situation.

"If it smears on anything…"

Sara cut Mrs. Bennington off before she could continue. "I'll give you something to wipe your hands with when I'm finished," Sara said, exasperated.

Sara fingerprinted Mrs. Bennington and turned to Mr. Bennington. "Your turn," she stated.

"Why do you need my fingerprints?" Mr. Bennington protested, "You just want to fill up that police database so you can falsely accuse me of something else."

"Mr. Bennington, we can do this here or back at the station. If someone did in fact let your dogs loose, we want to be able to rule out your fingerprints."

Mr. Bennington resigned and allowed Sara to fingerprint him. When she was finished, she collected Greg and tossed him the keys to the vehicle. Greg was about to speak, but Sara shook her head. "Don't ask, just drive, Greg," Sara instructed.

The two got into the vehicle, and Greg started their drive back to the lab.

* * *

"They were a piece of work," Greg declared. 

"Yeah," Sara replied, her head leaning against the headrest and her eyes closed.

"You alright?" Greg asked, "They sure gave you an earful."

"They gave me the beginnings of a migraine," Sara groaned.

"I'll be quiet then," Greg stated.

"Just get me back to the lab so I can get some medication and food into me."

Greg nodded pointlessly and continued driving in silence.

* * *

As soon as they got back to the lab, Sara's beeper went off. _'Robbery, take Greg – Grissom'_

Sara walked into the break room and grabbed a bottle of water and a sandwich from the refrigerator. Greg entered the room and poured himself a cup of coffee. "We have a robbery to get to," Sara explained, "be ready by the time I finish this sandwich."

"Did you take something for the headache?"

"Acetaminophen."

"It's too soon for it to be helping yet."

"Umhmm," Sara hummed while taking another bite of her sandwich.

"I better watch out then," Greg joked.

"Ha, ha," Sara said dryly, "you drive. I'll finish my sandwich on the way."

Greg allowed Sara to exit the break room before him, and they both headed back out to the parking lot.

* * *

When Sara and Greg were finished processing the scene, they were already into an hour of overtime. _Sure, Grissom sends me to a robbery, but he neglects to say that it is at a casino. _"Greg, let's get back to the lab," Sara spoke after placing all of the evidence into the vehicle. 

Greg pulled the keys out of his pocket and held them out to Sara so she would have the option of driving. "No way," Sara groaned, "I'm about to drop."

Greg opened the passenger side door for Sara and waited while she got in. She immediately closed her eyes and rested her head against the headrest. "How's the head?" Greg asked.

"Pounding. Get in and drive, I want to get home."

Greg closed her door and walked around the vehicle to get into the driver's seat. He started the drive back to the lab, taking care to remain silent along the way.

* * *

When Greg pulled into the lab parking lot, Sara didn't move. He would have thought she was asleep, but she had a death grip on the door handle. "Sara, we're back at the lab," Greg stated, watching her carefully. 

"I know," Sara whispered, her voice barely audible.

Greg tentatively reached his hand out to touch her shoulder, mindful of her personal space statement from earlier. "Sara, are you alright?" Greg asked.

"I need to go home," Sara managed to get out.

Not even wanting to attempt to get her out of the vehicle and into the building, Greg pulled his cell phone off of his belt and speed dialed Grissom. Grissom looked at the caller id before answering. "Where are the two of you?" Grissom questioned.

"In the parking lot. Griss, you need to get out here, Sara doesn't feel so good," Greg urged, careful to keep his voice low so he wouldn't disturb Sara any further.

"What is it?"

"Migraine, a really bad one."

"Stay with her," Grissom instructed, closing his cell phone.

_Like I was going anywhere._ Greg closed his cell phone and reattached it to his belt, waiting for Grissom to arrive. "Sara, can I get you to let go of the door?" Greg asked, leaning across the seat and reaching for her hand.

When Greg's hand rested on top of hers, Sara uncurled her fingers from the door and latched on to his hand instead. "Griss is coming," Greg reassured, trying to comfort her somewhat while they waited.

When Grissom walked out to the parking lot, he got into his car and drove it to where he saw Greg parked. He pulled up behind Greg and opened the car's passenger side door before walking to Greg's passenger side door. Grissom slowly opened the door and made eye contact with Greg. "Hey Griss," Sara whispered, keeping her eyes closed, the tension evident in her voice.

"You want to relinquish Greg's hand so I can get you out of here?" Grissom suggested.

Sara let go of Greg's hand, and Grissom stretched across her stomach to release the seat belt. "Greg, go check the evidence in and go home," Grissom instructed, "thank you."

Grissom slid one arm around Sara's back, and the other under her legs. He easily picked her up out of the seat and carried her toward his car. "Gil, you shouldn't," Sara lightly protested.

"Shh," Grissom shushed her, carefully placing her in the passenger seat and fastening the seatbelt.

Grissom closed the door as quietly as possible and got into the driver's seat. Once he started the drive, he took Sara's hand in his and ran his thumb soothingly across the back of it. "Gil, sensory overload, sorry," Sara groaned.

Grissom let go of her hand and returned his to the wheel. "We'll be home soon," Grissom assured, "try and relax."

Sara grumbled and brought her left arm across her stomach while maintaining her grip on the door handle. Throughout the ride home, Grissom stole glances of Sara, irritated that he couldn't do anything to alleviate her pain.

* * *

After stopping the car, Grissom went to the house and opened the door. He then carried Sara through the front door and into their bedroom. Tears trickled from her closed eyes, and she did not protest Grissom's actions. Grissom eased Sara into the bed and removed her shoes. He reached for the button of her pants, but when he touched her, she rested her hand over his. "Griss, not now," Sara complained. 

"You don't want your pajama pants?" Grissom questioned, "You'd be more comfortable."

"No," Sara whispered, curling up into a ball.

"Have you taken anything?" Grissom asked.

"I'm due."

"I'll be right back," Grissom stated, leaving the room to go into the bathroom.

* * *

After obtaining two pills and a cup of water, Grissom returned to the bedroom and leaned over Sara's form. "How do you want to do this?" he asked, keeping his voice low. 

Sara turned the palm of her hand up, and Grissom set the pills into it. Sara put the pills into her mouth and swallowed. "Water?" Grissom asked.

"No," Sara replied.

Grissom set the cup on the side table and stood still for a minute, contemplating what he should do next. "I'll check on you in a little while," Grissom stated, knowing that Sara needed to stay still and wait the migraine out.

Grissom walked out of the bedroom and pulled the door almost all the way closed behind him so if he made any noise, Sara would not be disturbed. Grissom kicked his shoes off and laid down on the couch. _Sara was tired before, and she sure isn't getting any rest now. I wish I could just give her her migraine medication, she doesn't need this crippling migraine. That and the fact that I have to be at an appointment in a couple of hours, which she is going to insist I go to. I hope she feels better so I can take her out tomorrow, we both need to sit down and enjoy some time together; a distraction, right._

* * *


	15. Chapter 15

_I had this entire story typed up on my computer and ready to go, but then I ended up with major computer problems, and my backup files and regular files got corrupted. Therefore, I am working off of some of the research notes that I had written on paper and trying to reconstruct this story; hence the fact that updates are taking forever. Sorry about the delay, I'm trying to get the story back to some semblance of what it was._

_

* * *

_It was close to noon when Grissom went back to check on Sara. She was still curled up on her left side with her hands near her forehead. Grissom walked around the bed and laid down facing Sara. "You have to leave for your appointment soon," Sara reminded him.

"In about an hour and a half," Grissom corrected, "how do you feel?"

"Exhausted."

Grissom reached out and tucked a lock of hair behind Sara's ear. "Why don't you try to sleep?"

"I wanted to be able to go with you to your appointment," Sara changed the subject.

"Sara, you're not up to it," Grissom reasoned.

"I know."

The two lay in silence for a few minutes before Sara spoke again. "I think I'm going to get my pajamas now," Sara explained.

"Stay there, I'll get them," Grissom ordered.

Grissom got up from the bed and walked to her dresser to retrieve Sara's soft flannel pajama pants and a loose t-shirt. When Grissom turned around, Sara was already removing her pants. He handed her the pajama bottoms, and she pulled them on. Sara slowly unbuttoned her shirt, and Grissom helped to slide it off of her shoulders. Sara unclasped her bra and removed it while Grissom eased the t-shirt over her head. She slid her hands into the sleeves, and Grissom smoothed the t-shirt down over her form. Sara shifted back onto her left side and moved herself over to the other side of the bed. "Can you lay with me for a little while before you have to leave?" Sara asked.

Grissom divested his own work clothes and laid down on the bed next to Sara. He pulled her to his chest and brought the covers over the two of them. "I read through the whole binder," Sara informed Grissom.

"We don't need to talk about this now, you should rest," Grissom instructed.

"I never knew our child had a one in four chance of developing it," Sara spoke.

Grissom ran his hand over Sara's stomach and caressed the mound that was developing there. He turned his head slightly so he would be able to easily hear everything that Sara said. "Heredity," Grissom provided a brief reply.

"I didn't know it could affect people at young ages either."

"It's not as common, but it still happens."

Sara turned over in Grissom's arms and looked into his eyes. "I just want to know what the doctor has to say," Sara explained, "I read all of the information, but I'll feel better hearing the doctor's perspective."

"Sara," Grissom started.

"I know," Sara replied, bringing her hand up to his right ear, "we'll talk about it later when you get home."

Sara leaned forward to lightly kiss his lips, and Grissom ran his hand across her back. Sara then turned in his arms again, allowing Grissom to pull her to his chest. Despite the incessant dull pounding that was still present in her head, she was able to get comfortable in Grissom's arms and eventually drifted off to sleep. Grissom waited until Sara fell asleep, then quietly got out of bed to shower and get ready to leave for his appointment.

* * *

"Dr. Grissom, I believe you are experiencing tissue regrowth," the doctor explained after completing a thorough examination and hearing tests, "since you've already had surgery, I will not recommend attempting another one. It could hasten your hearing loss, and there are several other problems that could be encountered." 

"How long?" Grissom asked.

"How long what?"

"How long until I go deaf?"

"Dr. Grissom, we've been through this before. I cannot pinpoint your rate of deterioration at this time; there are too many factors involved. Right now you are experiencing moderate hearing loss from your right ear."

"Well, that's the one I had the surgery done on first."

"I am aware of that. You could run into the same problem with the other ear, but I can't predict that. Presently, you are experiencing very minimal hearing loss from your left ear. For now, we'll just have to monitor your hearing loss very closely."

The doctor allowed Grissom to process that information and waited to see if he had any questions. When Grissom did not speak, the doctor continued. "At this point, I highly recommend fitting you with a hearing aid to balance out the levels so you can hear more clearly. The way you are hearing right now, your left ear is being forced to work overtime to compensate for the hearing loss in your right ear. With the hearing aid you'll find that corrected."

"For now," Grissom said plainly.

The doctor chose to ignore his statement and continue with the discussion of hearing aids. "Do you have a preference as to the style of the hearing aid? At this point, any type will prove extremely beneficial for you. I have a catalogue that you can look through."

"I would like it to be discreet. I did some research on a model that fits directly into the ear canal," Grissom explained, shifting to take a folded piece of paper out of his pants' pocket.

Grissom unfolded the paper and presented it to the doctor. "It is supposed to be top of the line," Grissom recalled, "it is digital, and it is supposed to be able to reduce feedback."

"Yes, it is, and it allows patients to hear very clearly. It is a completely in the canal or CIC type, and everything can be adjusted by a remote that fits into the patient's pocket. This is in the catalogue; however, I haven't had any patients fitted for this specific type. The price range usually discourages people."

"It was the best in the ear model I could find."

"I do have to warn you that as your hearing worsens, the CIC device will eventually be useless. It can only be used for up to moderately severe hearing loss. You may want to reconsider your investment, for these devices can get quite pricey."

"At this time, this is the type of device I would like. If my hearing gets worse, I will consider changing devices."

The doctor didn't like the way that Grissom worded his statement, but realized that he would deal with things in his own time. "I need to make a mold of your ear canal to send to the manufacturer. It will then take about three weeks before the hearing aid comes in to the office. At that time, the hearing aid can be adjusted to ensure maximum comfort and functionality. When we're finished, you can schedule an appointment with my receptionist."

_This is really happening. Slower than I had expected, but it's happening. _Grissom sat patiently, contemplating his future, while the doctor got foam and silicone ready to make a mold of his ear canal.

* * *

When Grissom returned home, he found Sara still in bed. He sat down on the edge of the bed and ran his hand up and down Sara's back. She opened her eyes and smiled. "How did it go?" she asked, yawning. 

"How long have you been sleeping?" Grissom averted the question.

"I wasn't sleeping, I was napping. I've been up a few times," Sara corrected, "now, how did the appointment go?"

"Alright."

Sara turned over and pulled on Grissom's hand. "Get in here," she instructed.

Grissom swung his legs up onto the bed and moved closer to Sara so he could put his arms around her. "I go back in four weeks," Grissom explained.

"What did the doctor say?" Sara asked, resting her hand on his lower back.

"That there is some tissue regrowth, and a hearing aid will be beneficial."

"Please tell me you considered the doctor's suggestion," Sara stated, unsure as to how her husband may have reacted.

"Yes honey," Grissom kissed the top of her head, "at my next appointment, I'm going to get the hearing aid. It fits directly into the ear canal, and I will be able to adjust the levels from a remote in my pocket."

Sara thought about his statement and leaned her head against his chest. "You don't want to tell anyone, do you?"

"It's not anyone else's business."

"Gil, it might affect your job," Sara reasoned, looking up and immediately regretting her words when he flinched and stiffened.

Sara pulled Grissom back to her and buried her head in Grissom's neck. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that work will be a problem," Sara apologized, hoping that Grissom wouldn't start burrowing.

Grissom sighed and brought his hand up to stroke her hair. "You're right Sara, but I need to do this on my own."

As Sara tried to pull away, Grissom kept her against his chest. "That didn't come out right, honey," Grissom tried to correct himself, "for the time being, everything is fine. I don't want pity, and I certainly don't want people asking me a bunch of questions."

Sara leaned back slightly so she could look into Grissom's eyes. "Everything is not fine," she spoke, "this is a big thing. Sometimes you don't realize how things affect others. The guys are going to think you're purposely keeping something from them, which, to tell you the truth, is the case."

"Sara, I don't want to say anything. In a few weeks, everything will be taken care of, and things will be back to normal."

The side of Sara's mouth twitched, and she diverted her eyes from Grissom. "Things are never normal."

Grissom pressed a light kiss to Sara's forehead and traveled downward to press a delicate kiss to her lips. "Can I make you some dinner?" he asked, knowing how long his appointment had taken and realizing that Sara must be hungry.

Sara let Grissom stray from their conversation, deciding that they could talk again another time. "Sure, this little one is hungry," Sara smiled, reaching between them to rub her hand over her expanding midsection.

"Well, I'll see what I can do about that," Grissom replied, resting his hand over hers.

After staying in each others' arms for a few more minutes, the two got up to start making dinner.

* * *


	16. Chapter 16

When Grissom and Sara finished eating dinner, Sara sat at the table while Grissom washed the dishes. "I can help with that you know," she reminded him.

Grissom looked over his shoulder and saw Sara fidgeting with her hands. "Just sit, I think I've got everything under control," Grissom stated.

Sara met his eyes and smiled. "I'm going to go sit on the couch, it'll be more comfortable."

"Fine, I'll be in in a few minutes."

Grissom turned back to the dishes, and Sara got up from the table to walk into the living room.

* * *

After completing his chore, Grissom walked into the living room and lifted Sara's feet up so he could sit on the end of the couch. He brought her feet into his lap and started massaging them. Sara sighed in contentment and relaxed with his touches. "Can we start converting the guest room?" Sara asked. 

"Right now?" Grissom questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"No, soon. The baby's going to be here before we know it, and the room isn't going to transform itself."

"What do you want to do in there?"

"Paint the walls, move your bugs, switch out some of the furniture," Sara suggested.

"Where are they going to go?"

Sara knew that Grissom could only be talking about one thing. "I don't know Gil, but they're not staying in the baby's room," Sara said and immediately thought of something to add, "and don't you dare bring them into our bedroom either."

Grissom smiled and turned Sara so he would be able to massage her back. "Is the living room okay?" Grissom asked.

"I guess…I don't know Griss, I don't want to have to see them all of the time."

"I'll think of something, don't worry about that," Grissom reassured, continuing his massage, "what color do you want to paint the room?"

"Blue," Sara replied without hesitation.

"Why, are you positive it's a boy?" Grissom joked.

"No, I don't care about all of those color coordinated stereotypes. I happen to think that blue is a nice color for the room."

Grissom smiled at her matter-of-factness. "Do you want to go to the store tomorrow and start picking some things out? That way when I have free time, I can start painting the room."

"You're going to paint it?" Sara said in disbelief.

"Well, you're sure not painting it. I have painted before you know."

Sara smiled and reached behind her to pinch Grissom's thigh. "I'll ask Nick to come over one day with his truck so we can bring everything that is in that room over to storage. Warrick and Greg can also come to help move the furniture."

"Sara, I think Nick and I could handle it."

"Gil, you are not lifting anything heavy. We have a baby coming, I'm not going to have you laid up. Plus, the guys will want to help."

Grissom decided to drop the subject and get back to the discussion of the actual design of the room. "So, do you want to go out tomorrow?"

"Sure. I have a pretty good idea as to what color I want, but we could take our time to look at furniture and other things."

"Okay," Grissom spoke, pulling her to his chest and kissing her neck.

Sara twisted in his lap so she could kiss his lips and wrap her arms around him. When Grissom started toying with her t-shirt, Sara ran her hand down his chest. "Now isn't a good time, is it?" Grissom surmised.

"Not really," Sara said, slightly unhappy that she couldn't fulfill his present desire.

Grissom settled for wrapping his arms around her and resting his head against hers. "Are you still tired?" Grissom questioned.

"Surprisingly, yes," Sara admitted.

"You've got to get more sleep during the day. You push yourself so hard at work, and then you don't get enough sleep when you're home."

"Spare me the lecture," Sara groaned.

"I just want to make sure you're okay. Maybe you should cut back on your hours a little bit."

Sara pulled away and looked him straight in the eye. "No," she said sternly.

"Well, as your boss, I'm going to say no more overtime."

"Gil, sometimes the cases require…"

Grissom rested a hand on her arm. "No. Under no circumstances are you to stay at the lab longer than normal hours. Though you may not realize it, you need your rest."

"Come lay down with me," Sara instructed, sliding off of his lap and taking his hand.

The two walked out of the living room and ventured into the bedroom.

* * *

The next morning, Grissom and Sara ate breakfast and left to go shopping. Grissom was driving, and Sara held his right hand from the passenger's side. "Where are we going first?" Sara asked. 

"The hardware store. I thought we could pick out the paint first and then go look at anything else you want."

"Furniture."

"Yeah, we can go look at that."

The two continued the rest of the way in a comfortable silence.

* * *

Picking out a paint color in the hardware store went fairly quickly because Sara had an idea as to what she was looking for. They then went to a furniture store to start perusing their crib and table choices. Grissom kept an arm around Sara while they looked over the various display models. "Do you see anything that you like?" Grissom asked. 

"I was thinking about a dark stained crib," Sara detailed.

"Why don't we go back further then," Grissom stated, "everything up here is painted."

They moved further down the row of displays and ventured further back in the store, finally coming upon some stained cribs. They looked over several displays before coming upon an elegant cherry crib with ornate trim. Although it had intricate details, the crib was perfectly designed to accommodate a baby, and could eventually turn into a child's bed. Sara ran her hand over the shiny finish, taking in the crib's spectacular design. "It's nice, isn't it?" Grissom spoke, standing by while Sara investigated the construction of the crib.

"It's sturdy," Sara pointed out, examining all of the joints.

Completing a thorough inspection, Sara turned to Grissom. "This is the one," Sara stated, happy that she had found something that she liked.

"Do you want the changing table to match it?" Grissom questioned.

"Yes, that would be nice," Sara replied.

Grissom reached for an item ticket and took Sara's hand in his. "Are we finished then?"

"Yes."

"Let's go order these and get out of here."

Sara nodded, and they walked back to the front of the store.

* * *

"Do you want to go anywhere else?" Grissom asked once they had exited the store. 

"Not today, I've had enough," Sara complained.

"Can I take you for lunch?"

"Can't we just go home and have lunch?"

"If we stop at the store first. We're running out of just about everything."

"Okay, eating out it is."

Grissom smiled and led Sara to the car.

* * *

During their drive to a vegetarian restaurant, Grissom's beeper and cell phone sang out simultaneously. Grissom pulled his cell phone off of his belt and answered it. "Grissom," he spoke. 

"I've got a db with plenty of bugs for you," Brass stated.

Grissom listened as Brass spoke and took down the location of the scene. "Did you just page me?"

"No, that was probably dayshift."

"Why are you there?"

"Things are really busy, I got called back in for the weekend."

"Alright, I'm on my way."

Grissom closed his cell phone and reattached it to his belt. "That was Brass, I'm needed at a scene," Grissom explained to Sara.

"Can you take me home first?" Sara asked.

"Of course. Do you want to stop somewhere quick and get something to eat?"

"No, I'll scrounge up something at home."

Grissom continued driving toward their house, disappointed that he couldn't spend some time with his wife, but intrigued by the prospect of insects.

* * *

After Grissom dropped Sara off and was sure she made it into the house safely, Sara took a container of yogurt out of the refrigerator and grabbed a granola bar out of the cupboard before heading to sit on the couch in the living room. She lounged for a while, eating her meager lunch and watching an unseen repeat of a forensic program. Although she didn't intend to, Sara drifted off to sleep.

* * *

When Grissom finally returned home from the scene, it was ten o'clock at night. Utterly exhausted, Grissom dropped his jacket on an armchair and forced himself to walk into the bedroom. He reached out for Sara as soon as he hit the bed, but he was met by a cold sheet. _All of the lights were off and everything was silent. Where is she? _Grissom walked out of the bedroom in search of his wife. 

Entering the living room, Grissom realized that the television was on, and redirecting his gaze, Grissom found Sara curled up on the couch. _I can't believe I didn't notice that. I'm tired, but that is unbelievable. _Grissom walked closer to the couch, hoping to coax Sara to join him in bed. _What is so special about this damn couch anyway? _Turning off the forgotten television in favor of the table lamp, Grissom leaned down to kiss Sara's forehead. "Honey, you should come to bed," Grissom stated, trying to rouse her.

Sara opened her eyes and tried to adjust to the offending light. "You're home," Sara realized, slightly disoriented from sleep.

"Yes, come to bed," Grissom repeated.

"I'm not tired."

"Then humor me and come lay down with me for a little while."

Sara sat up on the couch, and Grissom helped her to her feet. She looked at her watch and realized how long Grissom had been gone. "You must be ready to drop," Sara inferred.

"Yeah, come on, my pregnant wife should not be sleeping on that couch."

Sara nudged his side, and the two of them headed for the bedroom.

* * *

After Grissom had fallen asleep, Sara smoothly disentangled herself from his arms and walked out to the kitchen. Upon looking in the refrigerator and trying to determine what to have to eat, Sara remembered that she had eaten the last yogurt earlier, and the refrigerator did not contain anything else palatable. The cupboard also yielded nothing, and Sara started to contemplate her options. _Grissom will be asleep for a while, and the shopping needs to be done anyway. _Deciding that she could do enough shopping so they could at least have some food in the house, Sara walked back into the bedroom to grab some clothes to change into. When she was dressed and ready to leave, Sara wrote a note to tell Grissom where she was and left it on the kitchen counter. She retrieved her keys from the counter and left the house, locking the door behind her.

* * *

Although he was still quite tired, Grissom woke up after two hours of sleep. He ventured out into the living room to try and locate Sara. Not finding her, he continued to the kitchen and discovered her note on the counter. 

_Was hungry, but the cupboards were bare. I decided to go over to the store and pick up some things. I'll be back soon, get some more sleep. –Sara_

Grissom looked at his watch and shook his head. _What was she thinking? It's midnight, and she's out shopping. _Grissom picked up the phone from the cradle and speed dialed Sara's cell phone. "Sidle," Sara answered.

"Where are you?" Grissom questioned, concerned about her safety.

"The store, didn't you see my note?"

"Are you where we always go?"

"Yes," Sara drawled.

"I'll be there in a few minutes, stay put."

"Griss, I'm almost finished, you don't need to come all the way out here," Sara reasoned.

"It's midnight, you shouldn't have even been out there in the first place. Don't leave the store."

"Gil, you're being unreasonable. I can take care of myself."

"Stay put," Grissom commanded, returning the phone to its cradle.

After dressing quickly, Grissom left to go to the supermarket.

* * *

Pulling into the parking lot, Grissom found Sara's car very quickly. She had parked under a street light close to the building. Grissom parked beside her and exited the vehicle to walk into the store. Intent on finding Sara and making sure she was safe, Grissom didn't notice the concrete barrier at his feet until he had tripped over it and fallen to the pavement. Letting a slight expletive slip from his lips, Grissom picked himself up and examined his freshly scraped and bleeding hand. Torn between locating Sara and attending to his injury, Grissom headed back to his car to quickly clean up his hand before going into the store. 

Using the contents of the first aid kit in his car, Grissom was able to clean his wound and cover it with a gauze pad. He then walked into the store and glanced around, trying to locate Sara. He found her sitting on a bench near the exit with a cart full of already purchased groceries. She had a cup of yogurt in hand that she was staring intently at while she spooned its contents into her mouth. "Does it taste good?" Grissom asked, standing in front of her.

"It sure took you long enough to get here," Sara complained, looking up from her snack, "see, I'm fine, I told you I was."

"Sara, I was just concerned, you know what can happen to a woman out at this hour."

Sara frowned at his statement. "Let's go home."

Grissom pushed the cart out of the store while Sara followed close beside him, still eating her yogurt. "How did you plan on getting all of these groceries home anyway?" Grissom asked, noticing how many items were inside of some of the bags.

"Hmm…my car," Sara stated, not understanding what he was getting at.

Grissom gestured to the bags and stopped by the back of his car. "Some of these are too heavy for you to be lifting."

"I would have managed," Sara defended herself.

Grissom started putting the bags into the back of his car, and Sara caught a glimpse of his bandaged hand. Before he could pick anything else up, Sara grabbed his wrist. "What is that?" Sara exclaimed, knowing that the bandage had not been there earlier.

"Oh, it's nothing," Grissom tried to brush if off, not wanting to get into how his injury had occurred.

"Yeah right," Sara rebutted, "I left you at home in one piece, and now you have this. That gauze is soaked with blood. What happened?"

Grissom pulled away and finished putting the groceries into the car. He closed the door and turned back to Sara. "I'll take care of it when we get home, okay? I'm glad that you're safe, and I'd like to go back home to get some more sleep," Grissom explained.

"This conversation isn't finished," Sara clarified.

Grissom gave a slight nod and walked the few steps with her to her car. She got behind the wheel and kept the door open. "You pull out first, I'll follow you home," Grissom spoke.

"I'll race you," Sara joked.

Grissom frowned and shook his head. "No. Let's both make it home in one piece."

"See you there," Sara spoke, pulling her door closed.

Grissom got into his car and followed close behind her.

* * *

When they got home, Grissom brought the groceries into the house and moved to start putting them away. "Gil, come sit," Sara spoke, taking his uninjured hand. 

Grissom relented and allowed Sara to lead him to the couch. She had already retrieved the first aid kit, and she was prepared to examine and redress his wound. When Grissom saw the kit sitting on the side table, he realized Sara's intentions. "I should go wash it out first," Grissom stated, lifting up his hand, "this was just a temporary solution."

"Okay," Sara replied, watching him retreat to the bathroom.

Sara rested her head against the back of the couch and waited patiently for Grissom to return. _I probably shouldn't have been out this late, but we're out at this hour all of the time with work. Why did he wake up so soon anyway? His extreme overprotectiveness is a little bit overwhelming. If he only realized how much I worry about him sometimes. _Sara turned her head back toward Grissom when she heard him reenter the living room. She fished the triple antibiotic ointment out of the first aid kit and picked up a fresh gauze pad. "Let's see the damage," Sara spoke, pointing to the spot next to her on the couch where Grissom had been sitting.

After Grissom sat down, Sara reached for his injured hand and set it in her lap while she applied some of the ointment to the gauze pad. "Griss, this looks like you…fell," Sara realized.

_No sense in denying it. _"Yeah, I did," Grissom admitted.

"Where?"

"The parking lot."

"How?"

"I tripped over one of those concrete barriers."

"You thought I was in danger, and you got yourself hurt," Sara stated, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Grissom spoke, his voice trailing off.

"Something could have just as easily happened to you if you had gone out alone this late, and in fact, you technically did go out alone, and you're the one who came home with the injury. How about we make a deal," Sara reasoned, "I won't make any more runs for midnight snacks, but you need to stop acting like I'm breakable. I'm pregnant, I'm not an invalid."

"I realize that, but I would feel the same exact way if you weren't pregnant. Since that day, Sara…"

"You don't need to bring that up Griss. Just try not to impinge on my freedom; I need some space sometimes."

Sara finished wrapping the bandage over the gauze on his hand and let it fall back into her lap. He rested his hand on her knee and slid over next to her. "How about I make sure that the grocery supply in the house is substantial so midnight runs are not necessary?" Grissom said as a means of apology.

Sara smiled and lightly rested her hand on top of his. "That would be nice," Sara accepted, "now, how about you get to bed?"

"I'll wait until you're finished eating," Grissom stated.

"Grissom, you're the one who is exhausted," Sara replied, "I'm just going to make a sandwich and eat it, it shouldn't take me very long. Go lay down, I'll be in soon."

Grissom, realizing that he was practically dead on his feet, kissed Sara's cheek and pulled himself up off of the couch to go into the bedroom. After putting everything back into the first aid kit and closing it up, Sara headed out to the kitchen to make herself a sandwich. When she was finished eating and went to go join Grissom, she realized that he had already fallen asleep. _That's good, he's totally exhausted. He never did tell me about his case, I hope everything went alright. _Sara walked back out into the living room and sat with her laptop at the desk. She defined a few search terms and was quickly met with a plethora of information. She sat back and perused the information while several thoughts circled through her head. _He's suppressing his own problems and going overboard on me. When will he realize that some of his actions could have dire consequences also?_

_

* * *

_


	17. Chapter 17

"Grissom!" Sara called from the bedroom, trying to get him to get everything ready so they could leave for work.

"Grissom!" Sara yelled again, quickly becoming exasperated.

Two weeks had passed since Grissom had gone to the doctor, and the week he still had to wait for his hearing aid seemed like a lifetime away. Despite the fact that Grissom didn't want to tell the team about anything, some of them had begun to notice and had already confronted Sara about it. Trying to honor his wishes, Sara hadn't divulged any information, but she was quickly approaching the frayed end of her rope. The stress of dealing with pregnancy and work was constantly leaving her exhausted, and she didn't know how much more she could deal with before snapping and losing her temper. Grissom constantly dismissed any suggestions regarding his hearing, and Sara somehow felt left out of his problem, like he wouldn't let her or anyone else help him. Sara took her jacket from the bed, slipped it on, and grabbed her keys off of the side table. She waltzed out to the kitchen and planted herself in front of Grissom. When he saw the look on her face, he knew that his hearing must have failed him once again. "Sara…" he started, but Sara was overwhelmed and nearing her breaking point.

"Don't," she snapped harshly, "if you can't hear me in our own house, how the hell do you expect to hear a suspect at a crime scene? This has gone on long enough Gil, you need to tell the team what is going on, and you need to get this straightened out!"

"Sara, everything will be fine by next week," Grissom replied, just wanting to get out of the house and off to work.

"And in the meantime? I can't take this anymore Gil, I can't keep worrying about whether or not you will make it back home in one piece."

"Sara, you don't need to worry unnecessarily. There are always risks at crime scenes, and I could pull the same thing and say I'm worried about you being at scenes because you are pregnant."

Sara turned around and took a step toward the door. "It's not the same thing, and you know it," Sara snarled.

"Sara, if you're going to say something, you need to turn around," Grissom reminded.

Sara flipped back around and a fire sparked in her eyes. "Understand me loud and clear Gil Grissom," she growled, "I can't take this anymore!"

Before Grissom could react, Sara strode to the door, flung it open, and slammed it closed behind her.

* * *

When Grissom walked into the break room to hand out assignments, Sara did everything she could to avoid his eyes. It wasn't a very difficult task, for Grissom was adept at his own form of aversion. He paired Sara with Nick, and Catherine with Warrick, and left himself to work on a BE. As soon as he finished his task, Grissom left the break room and headed for the parking lot. Catherine shot a quick glance over to Sara, but she was looking at the side wall. Resigned to the fact that she wasn't going to get any information out of Sara at the moment, Catherine turned back to Warrick and tilted her head toward the door. "Let's go," Catherine stated, getting up from her chair, Warrick following. 

On the way out, Warrick made eye contact with Nick, and an unspoken message drifted between them. Nick nodded slightly, and Warrick left the break room. Nick turned his attention to Sara, who still appeared to be staring out into space. "Are you ready to go?" Nick asked, breaking her from her reverie.

Sara faked a small smile and nodded. Nick and Sara vacated their chairs and walked out into the parking lot. The two were inside of the vehicle before either of them spoke again. "Do you want to talk about it?" Nick asked.

"What?"

"Sara, the tension was palpable. What is going on between you two?" Nick pried, trying to gain some insight on the situation.

Sara shook her head and gathered her words. "Nick, I don't want to talk about this right now. Let's just get to the scene and do our jobs."

Knowing that pushing any further would just make her more agitated, Nick redirected his attention to the road and turned the key in the ignition.

* * *

Grissom had already processed the house where the crime had taken place, and when some footprints caught his eye, he started to follow them with his flashlight. He was lost in his world of silence and solitude, just trying to follow the evidence, when a hard blunt object pummeled him from behind. In a split second, Grissom was sprawled out on the ground, his luminous partner rolling away from him.

* * *

"Sara, do you want to get something to eat?" Nick asked, walking into the break room. 

"Not now, I don't really feel like it," Sara said, looking up from some papers she had sitting in her lap.

"I can go and bring you back something if you don't want to come."

"No thanks."

"What are you so engrossed in that you don't want to eat?" Nick asked, glancing down at her papers.

Sara moved to pull them away, but then decided against it. _If he isn't going to say anything, I'm sure not going to keep this guarded anymore. _"ASL?" Nick raised an eyebrow, some of the pieces falling into place.

"Yeah, I'm just doing some research," Sara replied.

"Is Grissom alright?"

Sara smiled a sad smile and turned the papers over in her lap. "Yeah."

"Do you…" Nick started, but Sara's ringing cell phone interrupted their conversation.

Sara pulled her cell phone off of her belt and answered it. "Sidle."

Nick watched as the color drained from Sara's face and listened to her monotone monosyllabic replies. When she was finished with the call, she closed her cell phone and slowly reattached it to her belt. "Nick, I need to leave," Sara stated, her voice devoid of emotion.

Sara made no move to get up, and she seemed to be in a trance. Nick got up, knelt down to her level, and rested a hand on her knee. "I told him to stop doing this, I told him to say something," Sara's voice broke, and she struggled to keep tears from her eyes.

"What's going on?" Nick asked.

"Grissom's hurt, I need to get to the hospital," Sara managed to get out.

A determined tear streaked down Sara's face, and her shoulders began to shake. Nick helped her up from the chair and pulled her into a hug, trying to support her. "He's going to be alright," Nick assured, rubbing her back, "come on, I'll drive you to the hospital."

Nick slowly led Sara out to the parking lot, hoping, for the sake of all of their sanity, that Grissom would be alright.

* * *

When a nurse finally came to talk to Sara, Nick wrapped his arm across her back in a comforting gesture. It had been over two hours since they had arrived at the hospital, and Sara had been struggling to keep herself together. "Mrs. Grissom, we're getting your husband settled in a room now," the nurse explained, "the doctor would like to keep him here for a twenty-four hour observation. The doctor will be out in a few minutes to explain everything to you." 

Sara nodded, signaling she understood. "Thank you," Sara replied.

The nurse smiled. "Don't worry, your husband is doing quite well. He has asked for you several times already. You'll be able to see him soon enough."

The nurse walked back toward her station, and Nick rubbed his hand across Sara's back. "That's good news. If he's asking for you he must be alright," Nick encouraged.

"I hope so."

After another few minutes, the doctor entered the waiting room and sat across from Sara and Nick. "Your husband has a grade two concussion, Mrs. Grissom," the doctor provided, "right now he is experiencing severe tinnitus, and he has one whale of a headache, but he is going to be okay. I've admitted him for twenty-four hour observation as a precaution, and he should be able to go home tomorrow morning if there aren't any other problems. If you'll follow me, I can take you down to his room."

"I'll be alright Nick," Sara stated, wanting to go visit her husband on her own.

"Okay, I'll be right here if you need anything," Nick replied, knowing that she would need some time alone with Grissom.

Sara slowly got up out of the chair and followed the doctor down the hallway.

* * *

When Sara entered Grissom's room, she immediately noticed that his face was quite ashen, and he laid stark still on the bed. His arms were at his sides, his fists were clenched, and lines of pain furrowed his face. Sara walked over to the side of the bed and slid one of her hands into his. Grissom squeezed her hand and opened his eyes to see a few tears fall down Sara's face. "Honey, I'm okay," Grissom reassured, trying to pull her closer to him. 

Sara kept her distance and subconsciously ran her thumb across the back of his hand. "What happened?" she questioned, wanting to get a better idea as to what had occurred.

"I had finished processing the house, I was following a trail of footprints, and the next thing I knew I got nailed from behind by something hard," Grissom recalled.

"You never heard the guy approach."

"No."

"How is the pain?" Sara asked, noticing how Grissom was intently watching her lips as she spoke.

"It's the ringing, I can't stand the ringing," Grissom replied.

Sara nodded, knowing he was experiencing more pain than he would admit to. "You really did it this time."

"Yeah," Grissom stated, his voice trailing off, not able to think of any better words to describe his thought processes. Noticing that Sara had stopped talking, Grissom took a moment to look her over, and he realized how tired she was. "Honey, come around to the other side of the bed," Grissom stated, wanting her to get some rest with him.

"Why?" Sara asked, but carried out his request.

Grissom shifted over to the other side of the bed where Sara had been and immediately felt disoriented. Sara noticed his change in demeanor and scolded him. "Grissom, stay put, things are bad enough already," Sara chided.

"Get up here and lay down," Grissom ordered, gesturing to the empty space he had created, "I know I've done plenty of things today to make you worried, and you need to take some time to relax."

Although Sara didn't really want to get into the hospital bed beside him, she felt exhausted, and she knew she could use the rest. After taking her shoes off, she curled up next to Grissom in the small bed. Her back leaned against his side, and he trailed his fingers up and down it. "You were right Sara," Grissom admitted, wanting to make some sort of peace with her.

Sara nodded and left out the verbal reply, knowing it was useless. Recognizing that her husband was safe, and no longer having to worry about him for the moment, Sara finally let out the desperation she had been carrying. Her shoulders racked with sobs, and she barely registered Grissom's soft, soothing voice trying to quiet her. Grissom ran his hand across her back, trying to quell her outburst. After a few minutes, Sara stilled beside him, and Grissom assumed she had lost the battle with exhaustion.

* * *

Due to the fact that the nurse had to check on him often, Grissom's attempts at sleep were fruitless, however, Sara managed to sleep through all of the disturbances. The third time a nurse came to check on him, he actually had a reply to the nurse's constant question. "Can I get you anything?" the nurse asked. 

"Did anyone come to the hospital with my wife?" Grissom asked.

"Yes, a Mr. Stokes, he's still seated in the waiting room."

"Could you ask him to come in please?"

"Sure."

* * *

Nick walked into Grissom's room a few minutes later, and Grissom motioned for him to approach the bed. Nick fought to suppress a smile at the sight of Sara sleeping against Grissom. _She looks peaceful, something I haven't seen in a while. _"How are you feeling Grissom?" Nick asked. 

"I'm okay. I need you to do something for me though," Grissom redirected the conversation.

"You name it."

"I need you to take Sara home, get her to eat something, and let her sleep for as long as she needs. I'm sure she hasn't eaten anything in a while, and this hard excuse for a bed sure isn't doing her any favors."

"She's not going to want to leave," Nick warned.

"It's what's best for her."

_I need some time to think too. I wish the ringing would stop so I could have some chance of concentrating on what people are saying. _When Grissom started to try and rouse Sara, Nick walked around to the other side of the bed so he would be there to help her down. "What?" Sara groaned, starting to pull out of her cloud of sleep.

When Grissom felt Sara start to move, he spoke. "Nick's going to take you home for a while so you can get some sleep," Grissom stated.

Sara turned over to look him in the eye. "Griss, I'm fine, I don't…"

Before Sara could finish, Grissom pressed his index finger to her lips. "I'm fine, I'm not going anywhere, the nurse is in pretty much every half hour to check on me. I'd rather you be home where you can be comfortable, than laying here waiting for me to be released."

Sara pushed his hand away and leaned over to briefly kiss his lips. "I'll be back later to see how you are doing," Sara affirmed, "we have a lot of things to talk about when you're feeling better."

Although Grissom didn't speak, she could tell he understood. "Honey, I love you, get some rest," Grissom whispered.

Sara gave him another kiss and pulled away. She flashed a basic sign in reply, and left with Nick before Grissom could respond.

* * *


	18. Chapter 18

"Nick, do you have some time to make a stop before you take me home?" Sara requested.

"Where to?" Nick asked, thinking that she would have just wanted to go home and curl up in bed.

"I would like to go to the hardware store to get a few things to put up in the house."

"Now?"

"I want to get some things done before Grissom comes home."

"Which one?"

"There's a large one about ten minutes from our house, I'll show you the way."

Nick pulled out of the hospital parking lot and followed Sara's directions to the hardware store.

* * *

"Why did you want to come here anyway?" Nick asked Sara once they stepped inside of the hardware store. 

"I want to rewire the house before Grissom comes home," Sara replied, striding to where she knew the electronic safety devices were housed.

"The whole house?" Nick questioned in surprise, "What exactly do you want to do?"

"You'll see."

Nick continued to follow Sara through the store, for she seemed to be intent on where she was going. Passing through an aisle of smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms, she halted at the end. Nick scanned the titles of the devices on the packages and turned to Sara. Before he could ask another question, she answered it for him. Picking up a device in plastic packaging, Sara turned it toward Nick. "I want to hook up everything in the house to this. He can carry the remote around in his pocket and be alerted if needed."

"You're going to need help setting this up."

"I can work on it."

"Nope. While you lay down, I'll get to work on it. What do you want connected to it anyway?"

"Doorbell, telephone, smoke alarms, alarm clock. I want to look for a baby monitor that will hook into it, and I also want to get some new strobe light smoke detectors."

"Well, the smoke detectors are right here," Nick pointed back down the aisle they had traversed.

"The special baby monitors are right here also."

Sara picked up a few things that she knew she would need, and Nick took them from her. "With you, shopaholic Sidle, we should have grabbed a cart," Nick joked.

"That's what you're for. The only things I still need to grab are the smoke detectors, and then we can get out of here."

After Sara retrieved the smoke detectors, they headed toward the checkout. "He's lucky to have you, you know that?" Nick stated while they walked.

"Yeah," Sara replied, momentarily lost in her thoughts.

"You know he wouldn't do this," Nick reminded.

"He would do it for me, but he wouldn't do it for himself. That's why we're taking care of this."

Their conversation fizzled as they approached the line at the checkout.

* * *

After Nick pulled in Sara's driveway, Sara walked ahead to open the door, and Nick grabbed the couple of bags they had collected from the hardware store. Entering the house, Nick set the bags in the living room and sat down in a chair across from Sara. "Can I get you something to eat?" Sara asked. 

"No, I'm fine," Nick stated, "you, however, need to eat something. Express from your husband, instruction numero uno: get you to eat something."

"Ha ha," Sara said sarcastically, "I think I can manage that."

Sara got up from the couch and walked out to the kitchen. She returned to the living room a few minutes later with a salad and two bottles of orange juice. Handing one of the bottles to Nick, she sat down and set her salad on her lap. "Thanks," Nick stated, opening the bottle and taking a sip of the juice.

"You're helping me out, it's no problem."

"Where do you want me to set up the central command center for all of this?"

"Next to the door, just as you come in. That way it's easy to connect the doorbell and the phone, and it can also be connected to the floor lamp if needed. Everything else is wireless, so there shouldn't be any problem communication wise. The second terminal can be set up in the bedroom."

"Okay. I think I'm going to start by mounting the box to the wall and connecting the doorbell."

"Alright. I can help with some of that stuff, you know."

"Finish eating and go lay down for a little while. That's the second thing on the list."

"Great."

"While I'm here, do you want me to move the bed out of the guest bedroom? I know you asked me about that last week, but we just didn't get to it."

"You can't do that by yourself."

"I'll call Warrick and see if he'll come over. That way everything will be cleared out of there for you."

"Nick, don't go to too much trouble, you've done plenty for me already."

"Sara, it's nothing. Let me go get started with the doorbell so I'll have enough time to fix up everything else."

"Go ahead, knock yourself out."

"Your husband is the expert in that field," Nick joked.

Sara shook her head, and Nick started going through the bags to find the parts that he needed to work with.

* * *

When Warrick came over to the house later that afternoon, Sara was still sleeping, and Nick motioned for him to stay fairly quiet. "How is she?" Warrick asked. 

"She's working through everything. That would explain all of the rewiring I did for her in the house, and we're going to clear out the guestroom so that's done. She's sleeping right now."

"How did Grissom seem?"

"Tired and pained. I don't think he can hear very much of anything right now."

"Did Sara tell you anything?"

"No, but she had me set up a whole bunch of hearing impaired devices around the house."

"Ah, getting ready for Grissom to come home."

"That's what she said."

"Let's get the guestroom cleared out so I can take everything over to storage for them. Sara already gave me the information, and I would like to finish up so I can run home and get a little bit of sleep before shift."

"Yeah, Catherine made it a point to remind me to be there on time because we are going to be shorthanded."

"Let's go then."

Nick and Warrick headed into the bedroom to start disassembling the bed so they could cart it out of the house.

* * *

Once Warrick and Nick had finished, Warrick left, and Nick walked back into the house to talk to Sara before he left. Although she was still sleeping, Nick sat on the edge of her bed and tapped her shoulder. "Ugh, what?" Sara groaned. 

"Everything is set up, and the guest bedroom is cleared out. The remote is in the holder by the door, and it's programmed and ready to use when Grissom comes home."

"Thanks," Sara spoke.

"I need to go home and catch some sleep before shift. Is there anything else you need done before I go?"

"Can you somehow get my car back here so I can drive in to get Grissom tomorrow?"

"Sure."

"My keys are right there on the table," Sara pointed.

Nick picked up the keys and put them in his pocket. "Take it easy Sara, get some more rest. I'll be by after shift."

"Thanks Nick."

Sara squeezed Nick's hand and watched as he left the room.

* * *

The entire drive home from the hospital, Grissom was very quiet. Sara could tell that his head was still bothering him, but they had already given him a fresh dose of acetaminophen at the hospital, and she knew there was nothing else she could do. She led him from the car into the house, and Grissom looked around once he got inside. "What's different in here?" Grissom spoke for the first time since they had left the hospital. 

Sara closed the door for him and picked up the remote from the base charger. She slipped it into his hand and waited for him to look at it. There were labels down the left hand side of the small device, and corresponding lights were on the right hand side. "What is this?" Grissom questioned.

Sara made sure she was standing in front of him and that he was looking at her before she spoke. "I want you to be safe in our own house. Keep that in your pocket, it vibrates when someone's at the door, when the phone rings, and when the smoke detector goes off," Sara explained.

Grissom raised an eyebrow and continued to inspect the remote. "I get what clock is for, but what is baby for?" he asked, reading the labels.

"I got a baby monitor that will alert you when the baby cries."

Grissom nodded and turned around to return the remote to the base charger. "I'm going to leave this here for now. I'll look at it again later," Grissom stated.

"Gil, you should take it with you."

"I'll look at it later. I'm just going to lay down for now."

Slightly hurt, but not wanting to show it, Sara nodded. "Okay, get whatever rest you need."

Grissom walked slowly away from Sara and disappeared beyond the bedroom door. _Great, he really seemed to like that._

* * *

Grissom had been sleeping peacefully when the movement of his pillow woke him up. Puzzled as to what the disturbance was that halted his sleep, Grissom sat up and looked around. Looking toward the base that sat on the side table, he saw that the light was flashing for phone. He could faintly hear the phone ringing, and his pillow still shook. Reaching his hand inside of the pillow, Grissom took out a device that vibrated in his hand. He pressed the notification button on the base on the nightstand to acknowledge that he got the message, and the device stilled in his hand. Not very happy that his sleep had been interrupted, Grissom charged out to the living room. Sara was sleeping on the couch, and the call had obviously gone to the answering machine, for he no longer heard its incessant ring. Feeling dizzy from his bout of movement, Grissom slid into a chair and set the device down on the table. Knowing he would have to wait to talk to Sara about her renovations, Grissom quickly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

When Sara woke up, she found Grissom slouched precariously in the chair with his head resting against the arm. Looking at the clock, she knew she should start getting ready for work. Deciding that a few more minutes in an awkward position wouldn't kill him, Sara left Grissom in the living room and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.

* * *

Returning to the living room fully dressed, Sara found Grissom sitting up in the chair. He had taken her book off of the tabletop, and he was skimming through it. "Snooping, huh?" Sara stated, sitting on the table in front of him. 

"Plain sight," Grissom replied, closing the book.

Sara took the book from Grissom and set it on the table beside her. "Why, pray tell, did you come out here and sleep in the chair? Your head probably hurts worse now."

"Pot, I'm fine, maybe you should try to see yourself to bed more often. This chair didn't bother me, what bothered me was this," Grissom clarified, picking up the device from the side table.

"That's supposed to be inside of your pillow!" Sara reprimanded, slapping his knee.

"What was it doing inside of my pillow? It interrupted my sleep for a phone call!"

"Did you answer it?"

"No!"

"Come on, one of the settings must be wrong on the base. You can turn the alerts you need on and off, so there must just be a simple problem."

Grissom set the device down and rested his hands on Sara's knees. "Sara, I know you mean well, but I don't want this in my pillow."

"What if you're home alone with the baby, the two of you are asleep, and something catches fire? You won't hear the alarm! This way the vibrations will wake you up, and the base will signal that there is a fire," Sara reasoned.

"Sara, the baby isn't even here yet," Grissom struggled to get his way.

"You think it's okay because it'll just be you?" Sara raised her voice, "Gil, I know you're upset because things are out of your control, and you can't do anything to fix your hearing. You're dealing with something you cannot change, but you can change your environment. It's plain stupidity to avoid adjusting our home just because you don't want to accept the fact that something is affecting you."

Grissom took Sara's hands in his and gazed at them. "Honey, I'm not getting any younger," Grissom spoke, his voice suddenly full of emotion, "you shouldn't have to be making so many changes for me."

Sara reached forward and tipped his chin up so she knew he would catch every word she said. "I case you haven't noticed, I'm not getting any younger either. I am not going anywhere," Sara emphasized, squeezing Grissom's hands, "no one else would want to put up with stubborn me."

The corners of Grissom's mouth slightly lifted with Sara's attempted levity. "Come here," Grissom stated, pulling her off of the table and gathering her in his arms on the couch, "you're right, I have been acting like an idiot."

Grissom kissed the top of her head and ran his hand over her arm. "Instead of ignoring your problems, you need to talk to me," Sara reminded.

Grissom pulled Sara to his chest and kissed the top of her head. "I messed up," Grissom admitted, his voice trailing off.

They relaxed in each other's arms for a few minutes before Grissom pulled back. 'When did you start learning?' Grissom asked, using his hands rather than his words.

'Pregnancy project,' Sara joked.

Sara began to elaborate on her answer, and the two chatted for a while before Sara had to leave to go to work.

* * *

Several hours after Sara left, Grissom remembered the earlier phone call. Grissom walked over to the phone and pressed the message button. "Gil, it's Jim. If you're feeling well enough, I'd like you to come in with Sara tonight to get your statement. The director also wants to talk to you, so plan on spending a little while here. Give me a call when you get this message." 

Grissom heard the click of Brass hanging up the phone. _Well, I guess I should have listened to this earlier. _Grissom picked up the phone and dialed Brass' cell phone number. "Brass," Brass answered.

"I got your message," Grissom replied.

"You doing okay? I thought for sure I'd see you come in with Sara."

"I was sleeping when you called, and I didn't check the messages until after she left. When do you want me to come in?"

"Well, I need to go do an interrogation now. How about around seven? That way when you're done with me, you can go talk to the director. Saves you an extra trip."

"Alright, I'll be in then."

Grissom ended the call and speed dialed Sara's cell phone. "Sidle," she answered.

"How is shift going?" Grissom asked.

"Hi Griss. Shift's kinda busy. What's the matter, did you miss my company already?" Sara joked, grateful for the quick break he provided.

"Although it would be nice to have you here with me, I'm calling to tell you that I'm coming in later, so I won't be home when you get home. Brass wants to get a statement from me, and the director wants to talk."

"I can swing home to pick you up and bring you back," Sara offered.

"Is my car here?"

"Yeah, the guys brought over my car and your car before," Sara stated, "Griss, are you sure you're up to driving?"

"I feel pretty good actually. My head has cleared a bit, and I'm going to get some more sleep before I go in. Where are my keys?"

"In the drawer of your side table. What time do you think you'll be home?"

"It shouldn't be that long. Maybe nine, nine-thirty."

"Okay, take it easy, I don't want to have to drag your butt back to the hospital."

"I'll be fine honey. If you're tired, don't wait up. Do, however, make your way into bed."

"Yes sir," Sara took a quick glance outside the door, "I love you."

"I love you too."

"Go get some rest like the doctor ordered."

"Yes ma'am."

After returning the phone to its cradle, Grissom headed to the bedroom to get some rest.

* * *

Following his conversation with Brass and getting his statement in order, Grissom headed to the director's office. Grissom had been ushered in, and he was shown to a chair across from the director's desk. "How are you feeling, Gil?" the director asked, sitting behind his desk. 

"Fine. I'll be ready to return to work by the end of the week," Grissom replied.

"That's what we need to talk about," the director said, keeping his statement extremely vague, "you are a valuable asset to the lab. However, I no longer think fieldwork is appropriate. I would like to offer you a permanent position within the lab."

"No," Grissom replied sternly, "that would not be acceptable."

"I'll tell you what's not acceptable. You went out into the field knowing that you had a problem with your hearing and almost got yourself killed!"

"I only sustained a concussion, I would not consider that getting myself killed."

"You are presently a liability to the lab. How can I send you out into the field if you can't hear anything?"

"I can hear you right now."

_Faintly, and frequently fluctuating, but I can hear. _"I know you're lip-reading, you can't deny that. Are you taking any measures to deal with this issue?"

"I have consulted with my doctor about possible options."

"I don't want to see you back in this lab until you pass a hearing test. Then I'm keeping you in the lab for two weeks. During that time period, Ms. Willows will be in charge of everything that is going on out in the field. You will be available for consultation on cases, and you can use the rest of the time to catch up on paperwork that has lagged behind."

"I can still run the team from the lab," Grissom tried to maintain some authority.

"I would like Ms. Willows to gain some experience in supervising the shift. While you are recuperating, she will have the perfect opportunity."

"I suppose I do not have any choice in the matter."

"No. You endangered your own life, and had others been there, there could have been a tragedy because of your handicap. Had you been a lesser employee, you would have been shown the door. Get everything under control and serve your two weeks in the lab. Maybe then things can return to normal around here."

_Yeah, define normal. _Knowing that he wouldn't be able to barter for a better arrangement, Grissom stood to leave. "I'll see what I can do."

"I hope everything turns out alright, Gil. Take your time to get some rest."

Grissom nodded and left the director's office.

* * *

When Grissom arrived home, he found Sara sleeping in the bedroom. _Good, she actually went in to lay down. _Grissom stripped down to his boxers and slid into bed next to Sara. Sara stirred and turned over. "How did it go?" Sara asked sleepily. 

"Okay, we'll talk about it later," Grissom replied, kissing her forehead.

"Everything is okay, right?"

"Yeah, it'll all work out."

Sara leaned in to give Grissom a brief kiss before turning back over and snuggling into his chest. After a few minutes, Grissom felt Sara drift back to sleep.

* * *


	19. Chapter 19

"It's amazing how you can't see it at all," Sara remarked, looking toward Grissom's ear.

The two were sitting in his office, waiting a few minutes before they would walk out into the break room. "There is a reason why they call it a CIC device," Grissom stated.

When Sara looked puzzled, Grissom clarified, "Completely in the canal."

"Do you feel more adjusted now?" Sara asked, knowing that he had had some problems over the weekend.

"I'm getting more used to it."

"Good," Sara replied, smiling, "are you ready to go get assignments?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Catherine gets to exercise her power for two weeks."

Sara repressed a chuckle and waited for him to come around the desk. They exited his office and headed to the break room together.

* * *

By the end of the week, Greg was more than perturbed with his daily assignment. While Catherine had been in charge of assignments, Greg had been contained to the lab. He had hoped with Grissom being back that he would be able to go back into the field, but nothing had changed. Catherine seemed intent on keeping him in the lab. 

Greg trudged down the hallway toward the break room where everyone was waiting for Catherine to appear. After a few moments, she made her presence known. "We've got a busy Friday night," Catherine spoke, "Sara, you have a bank robbery, Nick, you and Warrick have a double homicide, and I'm taking a 419. Greg, be ready for anything that comes back to the lab."

While everyone else headed out of the break room, Greg and Grissom lagged behind. Grissom was drinking a cup of coffee, and Greg started absently at the wall. "Were you in the lab all last week too?" Grissom questioned.

Greg pulled his attention away from the wall and looked at Grissom. "Yeah."

"That's not good. You need to keep going out into the field to gain more experience. I want you to do your proficiency soon."

Greg was shocked. "Really?"

"Did you think I was going to keep you in the lab forever?"

"Sometimes it seems like it."

Grissom pulled his cell phone off of his belt and speed dialed Sara. "Sidle," she answered.

"Did you leave yet?" Grissom asked.

"No, I'm crossing the parking lot right now. Is there a problem?"

"Greg's going to join you at your scene; he's on his way out now. I want you to supervise and let him do as much processing as possible."

"Okay."

"Alright, talk to you later, bye."

"Bye."

Grissom closed his cell phone and looked toward where Greg was still sitting. "Sara's waiting for you in the parking lot. I'll take care of things here, you go ahead," Grissom instructed.

"Thanks Grissom," Greg expressed his gratitude.

After finishing his coffee, Grissom left the break room to get things sorted out in the DNA lab.

* * *

When Catherine returned from her scene, she walked into the DNA lab with some hair evidence. She had expected to find Greg, but another lab tech sat in front of her. "Where's Greg?" she asked. 

"I'm not sure Ms. Willows," the tech answered, "Mr. Grissom put me back to work tonight."

Catherine dropped the evidence in front of the lab tech. "I need these processed stat."

"Sure," the lab tech replied, signing for chain of custody.

Catherine paraded out of the DNA lab and stormed to Grissom's office.

* * *

Grissom had been working on paperwork when his door flew open. "What did you do?" Catherine growled. 

Grissom set down his glasses and looked up at Catherine. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Where's Greg?"

"With Sara, processing the robbery."

"He was supposed to be in the lab."

"He needs the experience in the field. Two new lab techs have already been brought in to cover the work in the lab."

"I told him to work in the lab, and you undermined my authority."

_So that is what this is about. _"Catherine, in a week you'll be back to your normal job."

"You don't think I'm capable of running this lab?"

"I didn't say that. However, it doesn't make any sense for you to start changing things that I have worked for a long time on."

"We don't need Greg in the field."

"Oh, really. You do like your days off, right?"

"Where are you going with this?" Catherine asked, her anger being replaced with confusion.

"When Sara decides to go on maternity leave, we're going to need some more help around here."

"That's where Greg comes in."

"Yes. He wants to work in the field, and he's been tagging along with us for a while. He deserves a chance to prove himself in the field."

"When?"

"He'll do his proficiency in two weeks. I am confident that he won't have any problem passing."

Catherine dropped into the chair across from his desk and sighed. "You're right," she admitted.

"Glad to know that I still can be once in a while," Grissom joked.

Catherine smiled and rested her head against her hand. "When was the last time you had a night off?" Grissom asked.

"Honestly, I don't know. I've been covering here for you, and the caseload has been insane."

"And you want my job," Grissom teased.

"I never said that. I said I could do your job, not that I wanted it."

"Uh huh. How's Lindsey?"

Catherine smirked. "Well, we haven't had any repeats of the drinking disaster. She's a lot to keep up with though."

"Now you know how your mother felt."

"Right," Catherine drew out, resisting the childish urge to roll her eyes.

"Go home, have a nice weekend, and come in on Monday. I can handle things around here for the rest of the night."

Catherine contemplated the suggestion but was reluctant to leave. "Gil, if the director found out…"

"Don't worry about it. You're exhausted, go home."

Not willing to turn down his offer a second time, Catherine stood up to leave. "Thanks Gil," Catherine spoke.

"Enjoy your weekend."

After Catherine left his office, Grissom got back to work on his paperwork.

* * *

Although Grissom didn't want to do anything special for his birthday, Sara had insisted that they both at least take the same night off. She had made reservations at a modest restaurant, and she was looking forward to spending a night out with him. After setting slacks and a dress shirt out for Grissom, she removed a dress from the closet that she had purchased when shopping with Catherine. The burgundy floor-length dress came to a v in the front, and sequins adorned the straps and the neckline. Satisfied that the dress looked as nice as she had remembered it, Sara returned the dress to the closet. Sara checked to make sure that Grissom was still sleeping, and then headed to the bathroom to begin preparing to go out.

* * *

Following her shower, Sara returned to the bedroom wearing her soft bathrobe. She walked over to the bed and kissed Grissom softly on the lips. "Happy birthday, honey," she spoke, after he opened his eyes. 

Grissom pulled himself up in bed and quickly switched to sign. 'Thanks,' he signed and paused, 'you smell really good.'

Sara smiled. 'That's good. I've got a special surprise for your birthday.'

'Oh?' Grissom raised an eyebrow.

'Don't worry, it's nothing big, just dinner. We have reservations for seven thirty.'

'Where?'

'You'll see. I picked out clothes for you so you wouldn't have to. Go shower, I'll finish getting ready in here.'

Grissom pulled Sara in for another quick kiss before getting out of bed, picking up his clothes, and heading toward the bathroom.

* * *

When Grissom exited the bathroom, he was fully dressed, and by appearance, ready to leave. Sara was standing in front of the mirror, putting the last touches on her makeup. "You look beautiful," Grissom spoke, walking behind her and wrapping his arms around her, resting his hands on her still growing stomach, "this is a great color on you." 

"Thanks," Sara replied, setting down her compact, "are you ready to go?"

Grissom watched her in the mirror. "Not quite, just give me a minute."

Grissom kissed her bare neck before letting her go so he could walk over to his side table. After closing the small battery door on his hearing aid, he carefully picked it up and guided it into his ear. He picked up the remote and pressed a few buttons before slipping it into his pocket. "Okay honey, I'm ready whenever you are," Grissom announced.

Sara crossed the room and walked with him out of the house. They made it out to the car before Grissom spoke. "Are you going to tell me where we are going so I can drive?" Grissom questioned.

"Nope, I'm driving. If the birthday boy is good, he can drive home," Sara responded.

Grissom followed Sara around to the driver's side so he could open the door for her. He then walked around to the passenger's side and got into the car before Sara started the drive to the restaurant.

* * *

When their food arrived at the table, Grissom and Sara chatted over dinner. "This was a pleasant surprise," Grissom stated. 

"I wanted to do something special for your birthday," Sara replied.

"Any occasion that you dress up like this is special," Grissom spoke, smiling.

Sara smiled back, and the two continued to enjoy their meal.

* * *

After arriving back home, Sara removed her shoes and sat on the couch. Grissom took off his jacket and sat beside her. On the table in front of them sat a rectangular wrapped package. "Sara, I told you you didn't need to get anything," Grissom recalled. 

"When I saw it, I had to get it," Sara stated.

Grissom lifted the package off of the table and set it in his lap. "Hmm, the package seems relatively dense. I wonder what it could be," Grissom teased.

"You're a scientist, figure it out," Sara countered.

Grissom carefully peeled back the tape and pulled the paper off of the book. "I deduce that it's a book of entomology," Grissom smiled.

"You cheated," Sara stated, poking his side.

"It's the new full-color textbook," Grissom said in wonderment, flipping through the pages.

Grissom set the book and paper back on the table and pulled Sara in for a kiss. "Thank you very much, honey," he spoke, giving her a hug, "this has been a wonderful birthday."

"Good, my plans were a success."

Grissom pulled away and brought her feet into his lap. "You were walking around in those heels all night, your feet must be killing you," he stated, starting to massage her feet.

"I wasn't walking around that much."

"But your ankles are swollen anyway. Relax, let me take care of this."

Sara leaned against the side of the couch and sighed as Grissom continued his ministrations on her feet and ankles. After a few minutes, Sara returned her feet to the floor and slid closer to Grissom. "Thank you," Sara whispered, trailing kisses across his cheek to his lips.

"Anytime," Grissom replied before deepening the kiss.

"I've got one more present for you."

"What?"

"I think it's in the bedroom."

Grissom smiled and got up off of the couch, helping Sara up after him. "I think we'll have to go investigate then," Grissom suggested, wrapping an arm around her waist and leading her to the bedroom.

Sara sat on the edge of the bed, and Grissom leaned down to her level. "Hmm, what could my present be," Grissom teased, lightly kissing her lips.

"I'd like to think that I'm a pretty good present," Sara stated, reaching for the buttons on his shirt.

Following her lead, Grissom reached behind her and lowered the zipper on her dress. "You're perfect," he assured, returning his attention to her lips.

Wasting no time with their actions, they thoroughly indulged in each other. Afterward, Sara lay in Grissom's arms, her back pressed against his chest. Grissom's hands set on Sara's stomach, and he felt the baby kick from within. "You're the perfect present, honey," Grissom whispered, kissing the back of her neck.

Sara chuckled and rested her hands on top of his. "Happy birthday."

* * *


	20. Chapter 20

"Griss, I think you should probably take Sara home," Nick stated, walking into Grissom's office.

Grissom looked up and saw Nick standing in the doorway. "Why, is she okay?" Grissom asked, getting out of his chair, immediately filled with concern.

"She's fine, but shift ended over two hours ago. She's asleep in one of the layout rooms."

_How did I not realize that shift had already ended? Easily, I was caught up in my work too. _"Finish whatever you're working on, and go home."

Nick nodded and headed to the locker room while Grissom headed for the layout rooms. He found Sara in the first one he looked into, and he walked inside and closed the door behind him. Papers were spread out across the workspace, and Sara had her head in her hands, leaning on the edge of the table. "Sara, wake up," Grissom spoke, resting a hand on the small of her back.

"What? I'm awake," Sara grumbled.

"We're going home."

"Griss, I have to keep going over this case, I can't figure out what the connection is."

Grissom started to pick up the papers, and he placed them back into their folder. "The case can wait. I'm ordering both of us to go home."

Sara sat up in her chair and winced as her back protested. She reached back to massage her lower back, and Grissom removed his hand from her back. "I'm going to go lock this case file in my office. I'll be back in a minute, stay here," Grissom instructed.

"I'm going down to the locker room," Sara stated, "I'll get my jacket so I'll be ready to leave."

_Always the stubborn one. _"Okay, I'll meet you there."

* * *

"The princess awakens," Nick joked when Sara walked into the locker room. 

Sara disregarded his comment and opened her locker. Nick took an envelope from his locker and held it in front of Sara. "Here's a little something for you," Nick stated.

"What for?" Sara asked, puzzled by the envelope's presence.

"Let's see, it comes once a year, always thirty days after Grissom's," Nick hinted.

_Ugh, I guess it is my birthday. _Sara accepted the envelope from Nick and sat down on the bench. Nick sat beside her on the bench and watched as she studied the envelope. "You can open it, you know," Nick teased.

"Thanks Nick, you're the first person to wish me a happy birthday," Sara spoke and smiled.

"Some investigator you are Ms. Sidle, I didn't even wish you a happy birthday yet," Nick pointed out.

Sara shot Nick a quick glance and opened the envelope. The card within was extremely simplistic, for all that adorned the front was a small cake, and upon opening the card, happy birthday was the only thing printed inside. However, the card held a gift certificate for one of Las Vegas' finer restaurants. "Nick, you didn't have to do this," Sara chided.

"I wanted to. Happy birthday!" Nick finally announced.

"Thank you very much."

Nick turned on the bench so he could give Sara a quick hug. "Now you and the boss man can enjoy a night on the town."

"Yeah, in my free time," Sara scoffed, glancing down at her protruding stomach.

Nick noticed her distraction and redirected the conversation. "You don't have that much further to go," Nick reassured.

"Ten weeks."

"Think of it this way, you've been through thirty weeks already."

Sara looked up when Grissom walked in the locker room. "Thanks for the gift Nick. I've got to go home and get some sleep."

"You're welcome. Enjoy your day off tomorrow."

Sara nodded, extracted her jacket from her locker, put it on, and closed her locker. "You ready to go?" Grissom asked as Sara neared him.

"Yes."

"Goodbye Nick," Grissom called.

"Bye," Nick replied.

Grissom and Sara left the locker room and headed for the parking lot.

* * *

When Sara woke up in the early evening, Grissom was reading beside her in bed. She turned toward him and rested her head on his shoulder. "Happy birthday, honey," Grissom spoke, kissing her forehead. 

"Thank you," Sara replied, draping her arm across his stomach.

"Do you feel alright?" Grissom questioned, setting his book aside and running his fingers through her hair.

"I feel big."

Grissom chuckled and slid down in the bed so he would be even with Sara. "You're beautiful," he stated, brushing a kiss across her lips and setting his hand on her stomach.

Grissom didn't feel any movement, but he felt closer to the baby when he touched Sara's stomach. Grissom noticed that Sara was watching him, and he cracked a small smile. "Would you like to go out tonight, birthday girl?" Grissom asked.

"You didn't make reservations, did you?" Sara hedged, wanting to spend the night at home.

"No, I didn't, but we can still go out."

"If you don't mind, I'd rather stay home."

"It's your special day honey, we can do whatever you want."

"Can we talk?"

"Always. What about?"

Sara rested her hands over her stomach, and Grissom put one of his hands on top of hers. "A few things, all having to do with the baby though."

"Such as?"

"Nick and Warrick cleared out the guest bedroom for us, but we have yet to do any remodeling in there. The furniture came, but everything is still in boxes."

"I'll work on it tomorrow. We're both on call, but we have the whole weekend to get some work done. Well, I have the whole weekend to get work done – you have the whole weekend to rest."

"I have some things of my own to do. While we're still in bed though, I want to talk about one more matter regarding the baby."

"What?"

"Names. We haven't talked about them at all, and the baby's going to be here in ten weeks."

"Sara, I haven't even thought about that."

"I like the name Sydney if the baby's a girl. Sydney Melanie Grissom."

"After my mother?" Grissom responded after a moment of silence.

"Yes," Sara responded, moving one of her hands to caress his cheek, "Griss, you have plenty of say in this matter, and we don't have to decide right now."

Grissom shifted his hand to cup her cheek. "I like that Sara. My mother would…she'd…"

When Grissom fumbled his words, Sara leaned forward and lightly kissed his lips. "I'm glad you like it. I'm sure your mother would be…"

"Honored," Grissom managed to get out before wrapping his arms around Sara and pulling her close.

"I have no idea about boys' names."

"Well, we better hope it's a girl then," Grissom joked.

"You like to do your research; sometime when you get a chance, start looking at some boys' names. If you see something you like, write it down and talk to me about it."

"Okay, I'll see about that. But for now, what would you like for your birthday dinner? I'm cooking, dinner in bed maybe?"

"Dinner in bed sounds nice, but let me come help."

"The purpose of dinner in bed is for you to stay in bed. It's your birthday, relax for a little bit. I can take care of the cooking. I ask again, what do you want to eat?"

"How about spaghetti."

"What do you want with it?"

"How about tossed vegetables; your choice."

"And tomato sauce?"

"Sure."

"Get some more rest. I'll be back with dinner soon."

"Okay."

Sara and Grissom shared another kiss before Grissom left the bed to go start making dinner.

* * *

Frustrated that she couldn't get comfortable enough to fall asleep, Sara got out of bed and started to walk out of the bedroom. "Sara?" Grissom questioned, feeling her form leave the space beside him. 

Sara turned around to face her husband. "I'll be back soon," Sara spoke rather loudly, hoping he would be able to pick up most of what she was saying, "I just want to get a drink, I can't get comfortable."

"Come back and lay down, I'll get it for you," Grissom offered.

"I need the walk. You get to sleep, I'll be fine."

Sara left the room and headed for the kitchen.

* * *

Sara paced the kitchen while she sipped her glass of milk. Her free hand rested on her back as she tried to will away the pressure that was present there. _Come on baby, can't you give me a break? I have carried you for thirty-five weeks, but it feels like forever. I just want a good night's sleep, but I can't get comfortable. _Finishing the glass of milk, Sara set the glass in the sink, filled it with water, and returned to the bedroom.

* * *

Grissom was laying on his back when Sara slipped back into bed. "Is everything okay?" Grissom asked, glancing over her with concern. 

"There's just a lot of pressure on my lower back," Sara admitted.

Grissom slipped a hand under her t-shirt and started to massage her lower back. "You spend too much time on your feet," Grissom scolded.

"Probably. At least the baby's not moving around today."

After completing Sara's massage, Grissom moved his hand to caress her stomach. "Let mom sleep, she needs rest," Grissom directed the unborn child.

Grissom turned to pull Sara into his chest and tried to make her comfortable. _Mom, that has a nice ring to it. _Sara smiled and rested her hands on top of Grissom's, hoping to drift off to sleep.

* * *

Two hours later, Sara began to toss again. Every once in a while, the pressure turned to slight pain, and neither pressure nor pain were very conducive to sleep. Sara got out of bed and walked to the bathroom before she could wake Grissom. She then headed to the living room and tried to make herself comfortable on the couch. Having previously grabbed pillows from the nearby chair, Sara situated two beneath her head, one behind her back, and one between her knees. After turning on the television and settling on a forensic documentary, Sara snuggled into the couch and hoped the drone of the television would put her to sleep.

* * *

Grissom woke up about half an hour later and realized that Sara wasn't sleeping beside him. _She must have been uncomfortable again. I wish she could just get some sleep, this is making me tired too. _Getting out of bed and walking into the living room, Grissom found Sara laying on the couch. "Sara, honey, come back to bed," Grissom stated, sitting on the coffee table in front of her and turning off the television. 

"I didn't want to wake you," Sara spoke.

"Are you okay?" Grissom asked, rubbing his hand from her shoulder down her side in a soothing motion.

"I don't feel right," Sara admitted and sighed, "I don't know, maybe I'm getting sick or something. I've tried every position possible, and I just can't get comfortable."

"Is the couch better than the bed?"

"No, not really."

"Come back to bed then. I can grab some extra pillows to prop you up if you want."

"Okay."

Sara hissed as Grissom helped her off of the couch. "What is it?" Grissom asked with concern, looking over her from arms' length.

"Let me walk around for a few minutes," Sara stated, pulling herself away from him.

Sara started to slowly walk about the living room, keeping a hand at her back to try to will the tension away. Grissom walked up behind her and took her hand in his. "Honey, stop," he pleaded, "you need to lay down and get some rest."

Sara looked like she was going to protest, but she didn't say anything. Grissom led her back to the bedroom and instructed her to lean against the wall. He once again started to massage her back and attempted to relieve the tension. When he was finished, she turned around to face him. "That feels a lot better," Sara acknowledged.

"Good. Now let's try to get some sleep."

After adjusting the pillows and making sure Sara was comfortable, Grissom got into bed beside her and tried to fall asleep once again.

* * *

When Grissom woke up that night, Sara had already gotten up. He found her in the kitchen, sipping a cup of tea. "How long have you been up?" Grissom asked, sitting across from her at the table. 

"About an hour," Sara replied.

"How's your back?"

"Okay."

"You coming in tonight?" Grissom tossed into the conversation.

"No reason why I shouldn't. I've gotten less sleep pulling doubles."

"Alright. I'm going to take a shower, I'll be ready to leave soon."

"Remember, I've got to be in court in the morning. I'm going to drive separately."

"Okay. Let's leave together though."

"Sure."

Grissom got up from his chair, walked around the table, and kissed the top of Sara's head before leaving to go to the bathroom.

* * *

"You look like you haven't slept in a week," Catherine stated, confronting Grissom in his office after assignments. 

"I slept," Grissom vaguely replied.

"Uh huh," Catherine stated, obviously not believing him, "Sara looks exhausted too."

"She had a hard time getting comfortable. Her back was bothering her."

"Baby in front does put a strain in back. Does she feel better now?"

"Yeah."

"You help her with that?"

"Yes, Catherine," Grissom groaned, annoyed by her usual prying line of questioning.

"Get used to the sleepless nights, Gil, the baby will be here soon enough," Catherine reminded and grinned, turning to walk out of his office.

Grissom shook his head and turned to the paperwork that he had yet to start.

* * *

"Nick, I need to go sit down for a few minutes," Sara stated, putting some evidence into her kit. 

"Sure, take all of the time you need. You okay?" Nick asked, looking up at her from where he was collecting fibers.

"My back is just bothering me again. This kid weighs a lot."

Nick chuckled. "If it's bothering you a lot, you should go back to the lab and head home."

"The pain comes and goes, I'm fine. Shift is almost over anyway. Just give me a few minutes to sit."

"Alright."

Sara picked up her kit and headed for her vehicle, hoping she could rest for a few minutes and get some water before having to work the scene again.

* * *

"Griss, I'm leaving to go home and change," Sara announced at the end of shift, "I need to be in court in an hour and a half." 

"I'll see you when you get home I guess," Grissom stated, looking up from his paperwork, "I got called out to a scene, so I didn't get a chance to finish any of this paperwork. I'm going to stay here for a couple of hours and try to get some of it done."

"Okay, I'll see you later."

"Yeah. Take it easy."

Sara left Grissom's office and headed for the parking lot.

* * *

Grissom was working on paperwork at his desk when his office phone rang. _Good, I need an interruption. _"Grissom," he answered, picking up the phone. 

"Dr. Grissom, do you know where CSI Sidle is?"

"Who is speaking?"

"Matthew Hawkes, prosecuting attorney. Ms. Sidle was supposed to be in court to testify over thirty minutes ago."

Grissom immediately became concerned – Sara was nothing but prompt. "Have you tried calling her cell phone? Maybe she is stuck in traffic."

"I have called her cell phone and her home phone, and I didn't receive any answer. I called you next because you are her supervisor. It is very important that Ms. Sidle appears in court today."

"Did you ask for a continuance?"

"I've got two hours. I can't get any more time than that without good reason."

"Alright Mr. Hawkes, I'll find her. I've give you a call as soon as I do."

"Thank you, Dr. Grissom."

Grissom ended the call with the attorney and immediately dialed Sara's cell phone number. _Come on Sara, pick up. _After a few rings, Grissom was transferred to voice mail. "Sara, call my cell phone if you get this message. I have no idea where you are, and I'm worried about you."

Grissom then tried their house, but he didn't receive an answer there either. He left the same message and hung up his phone. Grissom hurried out of his office and headed for his car. _Where are you, Sara? Where are you?_

* * *


	21. Chapter 21

"Sara!" Grissom called anxiously as soon as he walked in the door of their house.

"Gil," Sara moaned, her voice tinged with fear.

Grissom rushed toward the source of Sara's voice. He found her on the floor in the hallway just outside of the bathroom. Her face was contorted in pain, and her hands clutched at her stomach. Grissom knelt down beside her and scanned her for injury. "What happened?" he asked, trying to assess the situation as quickly as possible.

"I fell, and I couldn't get to the phone, and I've been having contractions, and it's too soon," Sara rambled frantically.

Sara felt another contraction start, and Grissom instinctively looked down at his watch. The contraction lasted about a minute, then Grissom started to speak once again. "How did you fall?" Grissom questioned, trying to determine if she had sustained any injuries.

"I left the bathroom, realized that I had forgotten my watch, turned around too quickly, twisted my ankle, and fell. I can't put any weight on it."

"Does anything else hurt?" Grissom queried, exuding a calmness he didn't feel.

"Contractions," Sara replied, feeling the tightness return to her abdomen.

Grissom looked back at his watch and noticed that only three minutes had passed. _How is she in active labor already? _After waiting for the contraction to finish, Grissom lifted Sara off of the floor and carried her toward the front door. "I'm bringing you to the hospital," Grissom explained, "everything is going to be okay. Keep taking nice slow deep breaths."

Grissom laid Sara across the back seat of the car, got in the driver's seat, and started for the hospital.

* * *

After a lot of coaxing on Sara's part, Grissom stepped out of her room and into the waiting room to call Catherine. "Willows," she answered, her voice tinged with sleep. 

"Catherine, it's Grissom. Sara just delivered the baby. We're at Desert Palm now," Grissom stated.

"Is everything alright?" Catherine questioned, knowing that Sara's due date was over a month away.

"Both Sara and the baby are doing fine. Sara fell at the house, and I didn't know anything was wrong until the attorney from the case she was supposed to testify in called to say that she hadn't arrived at the courthouse. When I found her, her contractions were only a few minutes apart. I brought her straight here. Her doctor assures me that everything is fine right now, and she thinks that the discomfort that Sara was experiencing last night was the beginnings of labor."

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A girl, a very small, beautiful girl. Sydney Melanie Grissom: she weighs six pounds, eight ounces, and she's nineteen inches long."

"Congratulations! I'll be sure to get the rest of the details from you later. Did Sara have a bag packed for the hospital?"

"No, she hadn't gotten to that yet."

"Alright, I'm going to stop by your house and grab some things to bring for her before I meet you there. I'll give the guys a call too."

"Catherine, Sara doesn't want everyone down here right now. She's exhausted; she's not going to want to talk to everyone."

"I'm still going to call them. When she's ready for visitors, I can call them again."

"Okay, thanks Cath."

"Sure. Get back to your wife."

Grissom smiled, hung up the phone, and walked back toward Sara's room.

* * *

"Catherine says congratulations," Grissom stated, standing by the head of the bed and taking Sara's hand. 

"The nurse is going to bring Sydney back in in a few minutes. They need to finish doing a test first," Sara informed him.

"Baby's first test, the APGAR."

"Yeah. I can't believe she's here already, we don't have anything ready."

"We have some things ready. You had picked out clothes, and we have the crib and changing table."

"But they aren't assembled," Sara pointed out, "you said you were going to do that, but you never got to it. You got called in that weekend, remember?"

"Yeah, and I never got back to it. I'll make sure it gets put together before the two of you come home."

"The car seat needs to be installed too."

"Going through labor sure cleared your mind," Grissom joked, knowing that he had put things off for too long.

Sara attempted a death glare, but found herself smiling. A nurse knocked at the door, and started pushing a bassinet into the room. Both Grissom and Sara looked toward the nurse, but their gazes were then lost on their newborn daughter. "Would you like to try feeding her?" the nurse asked Sara.

"Yes," Sara replied, not taking her eyes off of her daughter.

"Go ahead and open your gown, and I'll show you how you can get her latched on."

Sara's eyes widened with the nurse's bluntness, but she covered her apprehension. "If you don't mind, I'd like to try on my own. If I have any questions afterward, I'll make sure I ask."

"There's no need to be modest," the nurse reassured, "breastfeeding is one of the most natural things on this Earth. It is also one of the best things you can do for your baby. However, if you wish, I can leave and let you attempt it on your own. If you have any problems, use the call button to buzz the nurses' station. I'll come back in about half an hour."

"Thank you," Sara stated, relieved that the nurse was leaving.

Grissom inwardly smiled at the irony of Sara's request. As soon as the nurse left the room, Grissom spoke. "Sara, you just gave birth to this little cherub," Grissom recalled while eagerly walking around the bed to get to the bassinet, "the doctor and those nurses saw everything. Now you're skittish about letting her help you?"

_I would like some of my dignity intact. If I had a choice, I wouldn't have been spreading my legs for them. However, Mother Nature didn't come up with another way. _"I've done a lot of reading about breastfeeding, and I'd like to try it on my own first," Sara replied, "I don't need an audience."

"In that case, I better be leaving," Grissom teased.

"Gil, you're not going anywhere," Sara warned.

"I wasn't planning on it," Grissom affirmed.

Grissom reached into the bassinet and picked up his newborn daughter. She stirred slightly when Grissom readjusted her in his arms, and Grissom looked down at her. "You are so beautiful, Sydney," Grissom spoke, brushing his finger across her small cheek.

Sara smiled warmly and waited for Grissom to set Sydney in her arms. She opened the left side of her gown, and Grissom lowered Sydney to her chest. Sara supported the baby's head and guided Sydney toward her breast. _Open wide, lips out, tongue extended, mouth full, pulled close, tummy to tummy. There, okay, she's swallowing, I obviously did something right. _"She's so small," Sara noted, watching Sydney while she suckled.

"But she's perfect," Grissom amended, running a finger down the baby's arm.

"She is. Sydney Melanie Grissom," Sara stated, testing out her daughter's name once again.

_Seeing my child before me, in my beautiful wife's arms, is absolutely amazing. Fresh, innocent, my little girl is here. There is one thing I can say with confidence: I will always be there for her. _"Honey, you look lost," Sara observed, looking up at Grissom.

Grissom smiled and leaned forward to kiss Sara's forehead. "I was just admiring my wonderful family," Grissom whispered, "there is nowhere else I'd rather be."

_I don't know how we're going to adjust, but I have to agree with him. Our baby girl is beautiful. For this brief moment, the world consists of the three of us, and there isn't anywhere else I'd rather be._

* * *

The End

* * *

Thank you for all of your wonderful reviews! 

A continuing story will be posted soon.

* * *


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